Rescue teams in Laos have called off the search for two men trapped in a partially flooded cave.
The operation concluded Saturday, a week after rescuers found five others also stuck in the cave on May 20 while they were hunting bats for food and searching for gold in the area.
One person was brought out by divers on May 29, and four others were guided out the following day after water was pumped out of a flooded chamber.
Despite a thorough search by local and international teams from Finland, France, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan and Australia, the remaining two men could not be located.
Lee Kian Lie, a Malaysian cave diver involved in the operation, told AFP that they “were very close” but “the water in the cave was manageable, but the cave entrance began becoming unstable.”
He said continuing the operation would be “very risky,” adding that the team would continue “managing water by pumping and digging at possible eruption points for water to flow out faster.”
“Perhaps a miracle will happen,” he said.
Kengkad Bongkawong, head of the Thai rescue team, said in a Facebook post Saturday that “no one is allowed to enter the cave” because it is “too risky for anyone to go in,” but external water pumping operations would continue.
He said that although they do not know the current condition of the two missing men, the best option is to lower the water level inside the cave.
Kengkad said they had placed food at various points in case the missing men could find their own way out.
Earlier, he said increased rainfall had reduced the vertical space inside the cave to about 30cm (12 inches), half the space rescuers worked with in the early stages of the operation.
“From today onwards, the rain will get heavier and heavier,” he said.
