Heavy rain threatens search for 2 gold miners still missing in Laos cave after 5 others rescued

Rescue workers in Laos said Sunday that heavy rain is threatening the search for two remaining gold miners trapped in a flooded cave. Five miners have previously been rescued, including one who was successfully freed in a dangerous operation. 

Rescue Volunteer for People, an organization in Laos, posted on Facebook that heavy rain is flowing downhill into the cave. They said the operation to rescue the two remaining miners might have to be stopped for the safety of the rescuers. 

The group of seven miners entered the cave ten days ago. Even before the flooding due to monsoon rains, it was nearly impossible to get in and out of the cave, making rescue operations difficult. Five miners were located in one part of the cave on Wednesday. 

Of those five, one man was rescued in a risky operation on Friday. Lead rescuer Mikko Paasi told CBS News that he and his fellow divers essentially "sandwiched" the miner between them to lead him through the partially submerged cave. Paasi said the situation was a "trust-me dive," since they were dealing with conditions that challenge world-class divers and there was no time for detailed training. 

"It's not a nice place to dive," Paasi said. "The guy was super strong and... props for him for that."

Four other miners were rescued on Saturday, when water levels inside the cave receded enough for them to leave with divers, Rescue Volunteer for People said on Facebook. Efforts to pump water out of the flooding cave have been going for days, though they had not been initially successful. According to Rescue Volunteer for People, divers had been bringing food to the trapped group when they realized the water levels were low enough to get them out. 

Photos show the rescued miners wearing oxygen masks and wrapped in foil blankets. Malaysian diver Lee Kian Lie told the Associated Press that the miners are doing well at a local hospital.  

Rescue Volunteer for People said it would continue to search for the two missing miners. Paasi had previously told CBS News that rescuers were no longer looking for them because they are believed to either no longer be alive or trapped in spaces too small for the divers to enter. But on Sunday, Paasi told the Associated Press that the five rescued miners reported a narrow crack in one of the cave chambers that could lead to a deeper part of the cave system. 

"This was the only place that we haven't checked in the mine, where the two lost miners could still be," he told the Associated Press.