By Kocha Olarn, Chris Lau, CNN
(CNN) — Cave divers are squeezing through narrow, flooded corridors in a delicate operation to reach seven villagers trapped underground in a cave in Laos for nearly a week.
The villagers went into the cave in the central Laotian province of Xaisomboun last Wednesday in search of gold, but heavy rain triggered flash flooding which blocked the exit, the Associated Press reported, citing Laos and Thai rescue teams.
Two Thai and a Finnish divers who helped in the 2018 dramatic cave rescue of a young soccer team in Thailand arrived at the site Monday to join the effort to free the trapped villagers, state-run Laophattana News reported.
To reach the trapped villagers, rescuers will have to navigate a 340-meter (1,115 feet) tunnel, according to MTK Command and Control Center, one of the groups coordinating the rescue.
For most of the way, they’ll have to crawl to reach the villagers, as the narrowest point of the tunnel measures just 60 centimeters (23 inches), the group said.
Waterproof helmets, breathing masks and gas monitors have been deployed with rescue crews to monitor the level of oxygen and toxic gases in the narrow cave system, they added.
Video filmed inside the cave, posted on the Facebook page of a Thai rescuer, showed rescuers moving in dark caverns almost filled with water.
Footage released by volunteer group Metta Dhamma Rescue Kalasin showed other members of the rescue team outside the cave, running cables through a gap between the rocks to guide rescuers to its lower reaches.
Authorities were alerted to the trapped villagers by a member of the group who managed to escape before the exit was blocked, AP reported, citing Bounkham Luanglath, who leads Laos’ Rescue Volunteer for People.
It’s not clear if the seven people feared trapped are still alive.
Villagers frequently visit the site to search for gold deposits despite repeated safety warnings from the authorities, Luanglath said.
CNN has reached out to Laos’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment. The Southeast Asian country is a one-party communist state that closely monitors the release of information.
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