In brief
- Two men remain trapped in a cave in central Laos, nearly two weeks after they were stranded by flood water.
- Australian diver Josh Richards has been assisting with the rescue, saying they were hopeful other entrances could be found.
An Australian diver involved in a cave rescue in Laos remains hopeful for the two remaining missing miners after the discovery of a "vertical drop" that could provide another entryway.
Two men remain trapped in the flooded cave in central Laos, after five others were earlier rescued. The group of local villagers had been searching for gold when they were stranded by flash floods on 20 May.
South Australian diver Josh Richards has been in central Laos helping with the rescue, and told ABC News Breakfast on Monday that four men who were freed from the cave on Saturday evening had provided valuable information to rescuers.
"It's essentially a cave that's been mined out, and so we actually know very little about it," he said.
"Getting that information from those miners has been critical to understand what is potentially beyond where they were trapped."
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He said rescuers had discovered "vertical drop" near where they believed two remaining missing men were, which they hoped could provide another way into the cave.
"Several of us are actively walking through the jungle, especially yesterday, trying to find new entrances," he said.
"[We were] very, very excited by the fact that we found a vertical drop, that drops down more than 100m that is right in the correct area.
"We're hoping there's another way into this because the current entryway is regularly flooding and it's frankly terrifying."
Five of the men were found alive on Wednesday, huddled in a narrow shaft around 300m from the cave mouth.
Footage filmed by rescue divers showed them muddy and despondent, complaining of chest pains and hunger pangs.
Rescuers had for days been pumping water from the entrance when four of the men emerged on Saturday. Another man had been pulled out by divers using specialist equipment a day earlier.
The emergency echoes the 2018 case of the Thai youth football team, which spent 18 days trapped in a cave in Thailand's north before a daring international rescue saved their lives.
Two divers involved in that retrieval of 12 young footballers and their coach are working with Laotian volunteers after locals requested specialist personnel and equipment.
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