Rescuers in Laos say more oxygen needed to save 7 divers trapped in cave

May 28 (Reuters) – The leader of a Thai volunteer group helping to extract seven divers trapped in a cave in Laos said on Thursday that more oxygen tanks would be needed to complete the rescue mission.

The seven Lao nationals entered the cave in central Laos’s Xaisomboun province last week to look for gold, but a landslide triggered by heavy rain blocked their exit, according to a local volunteer group and the state-run Lao Phattha News.

At least five have been found alive so far, but none of them has yet been rescued from the chambers of the cave. 

“We need to borrow as many oxygen tanks as possible and want to set up an oxygen refilling station in front of the cave,” Kengkard Bongkawong wrote on social media.

Volunteer groups gave differing accounts of how many of the stricken divers had been located. 

Thai volunteer groups said on Wednesday that five had been found while the Laos “Rescue Volunteer for People” organisation said all seven had been located and were safe.

The reports could not immediately be verified.

Thai volunteers joined the rescue operation on Sunday, including a diver who took part in the 2018 rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in northern Thailand. 

That operation drew global attention and involved British and other foreign divers, U.S. military personnel and other international support.

(Reporting by Chayut Setboonsarng, Editing by David Stanway)