Laos Cave Rescue Aborted, Leaving Two Miners Missing After Quake.

A major search operation was called off in central Laos after crews successfully rescued five men, leaving two in limbo. This mission was complicated by severe conditions, including a sudden earthquake and incessant rains. In the aftermath, local volunteers were continuing to pump water from underground to clear out the area, although officials are skeptical of locating the remaining miners.

It began on May 28 when eight locals trekked to find gold deep inside a cave in Laos' central Boualapha region. Going into these dangerous cave networks to hunt for gold or food is actually pretty common for poor villagers in rural Laos, who often have to risk their lives just to provide for their families. Unusually high monsoon rain suddenly inundated cave passages and swept away the fragile 32-inch wide opening to the tunnel where the men, many of whom were poor but driven by necessity, had to take shelter, reports say.

All but one of the miners successfully fought against flash flood into the 2.4-mile-long cave., located in an impoverished central province of Laos as of May 30 to seek gold in what seems a desperation of providing for their families, but a swift burst of monsoon rain followed, sealing their exit. An international crew of cave rescue experts quickly arrived in the region, but it took another 24 hours before the divers located their lost teammates––clustered together on a ledge well above an increasing volume of rapidly moving water. Using pumps to drain narrow and waterlogged tunnels as well as to create space to allow for a passage, rescuers successfully guided five of the trapped men out into the fresh air before rising floodwaters and falling rocks forced the divers to stop on the night of June 4.

According to the news, amid continuing heavy rainfall and rockfalls threatening to cause an additional collapse, rescue efforts came to an abrupt halt on Saturday night, after a 4.2 magnitude earthquake jolted the area.

"After reviewing the geological assessments on the state of the caves and considering risks, rescue teams will have to be pulled back," government spokesman Khamphad Thongpheng told reporters on Sunday. This rescue story, however, unfortunately highlights how life may become difficult for most low income families in Laos who may sometimes find themselves having little alternative but to put their lives at risk as they drill into unchartered terrain in search of gold.