Highly risky rescue operation: Expert: Little hope left for two missing in Laos cave

The chances of finding two missing gold prospectors alive in a flooded cave system in Laos are diminishing, according to a leading expert involved in the high-risk rescue operation. Mikko Paasi, a renowned Finnish cave diver assisting in the mission, stated that rescue teams have explored approximately 95 percent of the flooded tunnels without locating any sign of the two men. "We don't have many places left to search," Paasi told ThaiPBS World, describing the chances as "very slim."

Paasi, who played a key role in the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand, explained that the remaining unexplored areas of the cave lack dry spots where individuals could have survived for a week. He also noted that the five prospectors who were rescued alive were unaware that two others were missing.

Rescue efforts are intensely focused on extracting the men from the cave in the northern Xaisomboun province, where they have been trapped for ten days. Heavy rains flooded the gold mine and triggered a landslide, trapping the group hundreds of meters from the entrance. Colleagues who managed to escape raised the alarm.

The rescue is fraught with peril. Divers describe navigating narrow tunnels with virtually no visibility, feeling their way with limbs and even needing to exhale to squeeze through tight passages. The constant threat of new floods or cave-ins looms, especially during rainfall. Rescuers are considering two primary options: continuing to pump water out of the cave or guiding the survivors through the submerged tunnels, despite their lack of experience with such underwater navigation. Paasi favors pumping water as the safer approach, but the narrow shafts have made it largely ineffective so far.

Despite the grim outlook for the missing prospectors, the five survivors are reported to be in remarkably stable physical and mental condition. Accustomed to confined underground spaces as miners, they did not suffer from claustrophobia. They also had sufficient food and water, as they had planned to spend several days in the mine. Additional international specialists have reportedly joined the rescue efforts.