Revision History

Five artisanal gold miners were rescued from a flooded cave in Laos's remote Xaisomboun province after being trapped for 10 days by flash flooding, with two others still missing and presumed dead. The multinational rescue operation, led by veterans of the 2018 Thai Tham Luang cave rescue, succeeded when continuous pumping lowered water levels enough for four of the five survivors to walk out on their own — but the incident has renewed scrutiny of Laos's unregulated informal mining sector and the economic desperation driving villagers into life-threatening situations.