4:48 am today
This handout image released by Metta Tham Rescue Kalasin on May 26, 2026 shows rescue workers inside a cave in Xaisomboun province.
A rescue team freed on Friday (Laos time) one of seven men trapped inside a semi-submerged cave in Laos for more than a week, the group working at the site said.
The seven men had been trapped in the cavern in a remote mountainous area of central Xaysomboun province since 20 May, when flash floods stranded them as they searched for gold, early state media reports said.
Five of the men were located alive on Wednesday, huddling in a narrow shaft around 300 metres (984 feet) from the cave mouth.
