Rescuers confirmed that four men remained trapped inside the cave and were “awaiting further assessment.”

Five villagers trapped in a flooded cave in central Laos for over a week have been found alive. Rescuers said Wednesday that two others are still missing.

Even before the men went into the Laos cave to fossick for gold, the rain has started. Their families told this masthead that they had been warned not to go, “but they didn’t…