VIENTIANE: Five of seven people trapped in a flooded cave for a week in Laos were found alive on Wednesday (May 27), Laotian and Thai rescuers said.

“We’ve found five people alive and all safe. There are still two people we are searching for,” Laotian rescue group Rescue Volunteer for People said in a social media post.

“At 4.30 pm, we found our target. We found five people. We are looking for the other two,” added Thai rescuer Kengkach Bangkawong in a Facebook post.

State media Lao Economic Daily also said five people were found alive.

Seven Laotian villagers entered the cave in central Xaysomboun province, about 125km northeast of the capital Vientiane, on May 20, Laotian state media said earlier this week.

They were searching for gold but instead got trapped inside the cave after heavy rain triggered flash flooding, blocking their exit, it added.

Specialist rescue diver Mikko Paasi from Finland said earlier on Wednesday that rescuers needed to “navigate hundreds of metres of constant restrictions, flood waters, collapse hazards and high risk of contaminated air quality” inside the cave, which he called an “abandoned gold mine”.

The seven people “should be trapped in the terminal chamber” around 300m from the exit, he said in a social media post.

“The area is not owned by anybody,” Laotian rescuer Baeng, who requested one name be used for security reasons, told AFP. “Locals usually go there to dig holes and look for food.”