Rescue divers discover five gold-hunters alive after group became trapped in flooded cave for seven days

Five people who had been trapped inside a cave in Laos for about a week have been found alive, as dozens of Lao and Thai rescuers continued to search for two others.

The seven Lao nationals had entered the cave in Xaisomboun province last week to look for gold.

However, heavy rain and a landslide blocked their exit, according to a local volunteer group and state-run Lao Phattha News.

Footage posted on the Facebook page of Lao Phattana News showed rescuers in helmets crawling through tight spaces under torchlight, gasping for breath, and others wading slowly through muddy, chest-high waters deep into the cave.

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"As of 4.30pm (9.30GMT), we found five people. We will continue to search for the other two," said Kengkard Bongkawong, head of the Thai rescue team.

Another Thai volunteer rescuer, Chakrakrit Taengtung, posted a video on social media with him and the five all cheering.

The video showed they were in good spirits, raising their arms into the air and smiling.

Among the team was a diver who took part in the 2018 rescue of 12 boys and their soccer coach from a flooded cave in northern Thailand, an operation that drew global attention and involved British and other foreign divers.

The route leading to the entrance to the cave system has proved to be a challenge for the rescue team.

Mr Kengkard, another veteran of the Thai cave rescue, said: "The route is not complicated but the problem is the space.

"The gap is only 50cm wide. It’s really small, so we need to clear out the sediment from this spot first. The gap is quite low to crawl through, and we have to tilt at a 45-degree angle."

Inside the cave, Mikko Paasi, a Finnish diver said that "you have to navigate hundreds of meters of constant restrictions, flood waters, collapse hazards and high risk of contaminated air quality".

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Rescuers said the missing seven people were "trapped in the terminal chamber" about 300 metres from the exit.

Mr Paasi said before the rescue: "We are still in high spirits that we will find the miners alive as they entered the mine with resources to stay sub-terrain for several days."

Bounkham Luanglath of the Lao rescue group said that the cave was a hotspot for residents looking for gold, despite the fact local authorities had repeatedly warned them against entering the cave.

Diving instructor based on the Thai island of Phuket, Claus Rasmussen, pointed to the 2018 rescue operation in Thailand, when fears were high for the boys’ fate.

Mr Rasmussen said: "Here it is still a rescue until proven otherwise,” he said. “And that’s the way that people have to go forward."

The rescue of the Wild Boars team from the cave in 2018 made global headlines.

Saman Kunan, a former Thai Navy Seal diver died during that search-and-rescue effort, with another rescue diver and Thai Navy Seal, Beirut Pakbara, died the following year from septic shock following a blood infection contracted in the cave.

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