On a hunt for gold, one survivor recounts his days stuck in cramped, flooded Laos cave

Through the long days and nights he and four other men were trapped inside a flooded cave, all Mued Duangsomdy could think about was food.

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They had little of it with them when they ventured last month into the mazelike cave network in a remote area of central Laos, carrying prospecting tools to try their luck at finding gold, only to have fortune turn against them.

“It was all dark, so we didn’t know days or nights,” Mued, 23, told NBC News in an interview, days after he became the first of the men to emerge from the cave amid a high-stakes, multinational rescue operation.

Two other miners who Mued said entered the cave a day or two earlier remain missing after more than two weeks.

Chakkrit Taengtang, a Thai member assisting the rescue operation, said Wednesday that an earthquake had caused the cave entrance to collapse, and that the chambers inside the cave were now flooded.

“The mission was already difficult, and now it has become even more challenging,” he said.

Chakkrit said earlier this week that rescuers were focused on draining water from the cave and finding alternative ways to get in, with diving operations suspended for fear that the divers could also become trapped if there were a sudden downpour.

Mued had joined the amateur prospectors from his village several times before, so he was familiar with the dank air and unpleasant conditions inside the cave, which officials had warned the public not to enter. As they worked, they were unaware that the wind outside was swelling into a monsoon-like storm that brought torrential rain.

A flash flood sent water gushing into the cave’s narrow passages, leaving Mued and the others trapped more than 800 feet from the entrance.

“We tried for three days to find ways out,” he said, only to hit dead ends each time. “Then we realized we were stuck.”

The men waited in darkness with nothing left to eat and only a few small bottles of clean water. They slept, washed their clothes and slept some more. Days in, Mued’s stomach began to ache with hunger and his skin developed blisters. Morale among the men was sagging, as well.

Then, the monotony of the cave’s silence was broken by the sound of splashing as two divers with headlamps bubbled up from beneath the water.

“I thought I would be dead,” Mued recalled. “I didn’t think there would be people helping us.”

Since images emerged last week of the five gaunt, smiling men perched on a ledge inside the cave, the rescue effort in Xaisomboun province has riveted a world craving stories of hope.

Dozens of divers, cave experts and volunteer rescuers from at least half a dozen countries have worked around the clock in scenes reminiscent of the 2018 operation to free 12 boys and their soccer coach from a cave in Thailand.

Finding the five men was only the first step. Rescuers knew that getting them out would not be easy in the face of jagged rocks, dirty water, near-zero visibility and the risk of panic.

“It is an incredibly hostile environment,” Australian diver Josh Richards, who was part of the rescue operation, said in an interview this week.

“When you don’t have enough room to be able to put your head up straight between the ceiling and the floor and that area then starts to fill with water, I suppose that’s the thing that scares me most.”

In the days after finding the five men alive, rescuers made the perilous journey in and out of the cave multiple times to bring them food and water. They also worked on a plan to give the men enough strength and confidence to go out with divers.

“I thought I might not know how to breathe,” said Mued, who had previously seen scuba equipment only in movies. “I thought if I don’t go out, I could die.”

What kept Mued going as he scraped and banged through the tunnels between divers was food.

“I only thought, I want to eat. I want to eat raw beef with spicy dip. I had to have it,” he said.

Nine days after he was trapped, Mued emerged from the cave Friday night, covered in mud and unsteady on his feet, to a scene of celebration.

“I was so damn happy,” he smiled.

The next day, with water levels having dropped inside the cave, the remaining four men caught rescuers by surprise, crawling out on their own just as divers were getting ready to go in and get them.

So far, there have been “two miracles,” Richards said, referring to Mued and the four other men emerging separately.

“I think people are hoping for a third,” he said, with “two families that are sitting by the mine entrance in the hope that something will happen.”

“I can tell you that the search crews who are staying on are definitely dedicated to trying to make that a reality,” he added.

Mued says he knows the two men still missing inside the cave. He described an intersection within the cave system that can take three directions, and he is hopeful they can also survive.

“I think they are patient and still waiting because they have responsibilities like wives and kids,” he said, adding that he was overwhelmed with gratitude.

“I think they can tough it out,” he said.