Laos rescuers heard ‘knocking sound’ searching cave for lost villagers
A handout photo made available by Metta Tham Kalasin Rescue shows a Laotian survivor rescued from a flooded cave in a mountainous area in Xaisomboun province, Laos, on Friday. Photo by Metta Tham Kalasin Rescue/EPA
June 1 (UPI) — Rescue workers in Laos said they heard a knocking sound while searching flooded caves for villagers who went missing on May 19.
The search continues in the Xaisomboun province for two of seven villagers who descended into the caves searching for gold last month. The rescue workers said Monday they knocked on the cave walls and heard a “knocking response” from deep inside the cave system within the last 24 hours.
An eighth villager went into the cave with the group but was able to escape and alert of the seven others who were trapped.
“Yesterday, when we knocked, there was a signal responding back,” Kengkaj Bongkawong, head of Metta Tham Rescue Kalasin, a Thai rescue team, wrote on Facebook. “It was a knocking sound meant to be heard. Based on our initial assessment, this is considered not to be a reflection or an echo of the sound.”
The sound was discovered after the rescue team rappelled down a vertical shaft they had discovered. They report hearing a knocking response twice in the last 24 hours.
Flash flooding after the villagers went into the cave caused them to be trapped. Five of the villagers were rescued last week when a rescue team pumped water out of the cave to help them get out.
One of the villagers was trained to scuba dive and was able to swim out of the cave.
“Moving forward, it won’t just be a matter of sitting around waiting for water to be pumped out,” Bongkawong wrote.
