Laos cave survivors walk out after 11 days trapped underground

Four villagers who survived 11 days trapped in a flooded cave in Laos have described how they endured hunger, cold and darkness before making a dramatic escape on their own, surprising rescue teams who had been preparing a complex operation.

The group had been cut off deep inside the cave system after heavy flooding blocked their exit. With water forming a barrier at the entrance and conditions deteriorating underground, they were left to survive in near-total darkness, with limited food and freezing temperatures.

As the water levels gradually began to fall, the men decided to attempt a dangerous escape through narrow, submerged and oxygen-deprived passages without any direct assistance from rescuers.

Their emergence at the cave entrance on Saturday came as a shock to the rescue teams above ground, who had expected to carry out a carefully coordinated extraction operation.

One survivor said their decision to move was driven by fear and desperation after days of isolation.

“I was afraid because we were there alone,” said Mee Singfamalai, a 23-year-old barber, speaking from hospital where he is recovering.

He described how the group navigated around 260 metres of treacherous underground tunnels, at times swimming through water at least a metre deep and at other points crawling through tight gaps with little oxygen.

“Sometimes we had to dive, sometimes we had to crawl. We crawled slowly,” he said, adding that the passages were often only just wide enough for a person to pass.

One member of the group had earlier been guided out by a team of international cave rescue experts using diving equipment, leaving the others to wait until conditions improved enough for movement.

CNN journalist Will Ripley and his team were among the few international reporters at the scene as the unexpected self-rescue unfolded, after days of planning by specialist teams who were preparing for a high-risk extraction.

Despite the danger, the remaining villagers managed to navigate the flooded system and reach safety, ending an ordeal that had gripped rescuers on the surface.