The international rescue team pulled four more men from the flooded cave in Laos on Saturday afternoon (30) local time, according to Australian rescue diver Josh Richards.
The news came a day after a man was safely removed from the cave on Friday night (29).
Rescue teams were preparing to enter the scene to help the four trapped men, but before rescuers could reach them, the survivors managed to walk and crawl away on their own, according to Bounkham Luanglath of the Lao People’s Volunteer Association.
“I was literally putting on my wetsuit to go into the water when they showed up on their own,” Josh Richards told CNN.
The four men managed to get out alone because the water level had dropped. Emergency pumping operations were carried out throughout the night, which helped to significantly lower the water level inside the cave.
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French diver Robin Cuesta had already classified the , highlighting the , weakened by days without food and water, and the lack of formal diving training.
The divers also warned that the mission would be extremely complex and would depend on weather conditions, and that they did not expect to be able to rescue all of the trapped men.
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who had separated from the group of five rescued.
The rescue team said it is assessing the situation and planning the next steps for the search and rescue operation.
Malaysian rescue diver Lee Kian Lie said the team is trying to move equipment deeper into the cave to pump out more water before trying to find the other two residents.
*With input from Will Ripley, June Jeong, Kara Fox, Angie Puranasamriddhi, Rebecca Wright and Sophle Tanno
