Man is ‘safe and sound’ after perilous operation, leaving four inside a small chamber and two still to be locatedThe first of seven men who have been trapped in a flooded cave in Laos for more than a week has been brought to safety by divers, in a perilous rescue mission that has required teams to crawl through narrow, deluged tunnels, navigating sharp rocks and collapse hazards.Four men remain inside a chamber about 300 metres (980ft) from the cave entrance, where they were found crouched and h
Man is ‘safe and sound’ after perilous operation, leaving four inside a small chamber and two still to be located
The first of seven men who have been trapped in a flooded cave in Laos for more than a week has been brought to safety by divers, in a perilous rescue mission that has required teams to crawl through narrow, deluged tunnels, navigating sharp rocks and collapse hazards.
Four men remain inside a chamber about 300 metres (980ft) from the cave entrance, where they were found crouched and huddled together on a rocky ledge by rescuers on Wednesday. Two men are yet to be located.
Rescuers say extraction efforts complicated by low oxygen supplies, dark and narrow spaces, plus more rainAfter five of seven people trapped in a flooded cave in Laos were found, footage showed one of the men putting his head in his hands in gratitude at his rescuer’s appearance after a week of uncertainty in the dark chamber.The mission to find them was itself fraught, but so too will be the extraction. Continue reading...
Rescuers say extraction efforts complicated by low oxygen supplies, dark and narrow spaces, plus more rain
After five of seven people trapped in a flooded cave in Laos were found, footage showed one of the men putting his head in his hands in gratitude at his rescuer’s appearance after a week of uncertainty in the dark chamber.
The mission to find them was itself fraught, but so too will be the extraction.
Video appears to show divers discovering group sitting on a rock surrounded by flood waterRescuers have reached five of seven people who have been trapped for a week in a flooded, remote cave in Laos, after days spent navigating narrow, inundated passageways amid persistent rain.Video footage shared on social media by rescue divers showed the five men crouched together on a rocky ledge in a dark cave chamber, surrounded by muddy water. “There’s no need to cry,” one of the rescue team told the me
Video appears to show divers discovering group sitting on a rock surrounded by flood water
Rescuers have reached five of seven people who have been trapped for a week in a flooded, remote cave in Laos, after days spent navigating narrow, inundated passageways amid persistent rain.
Video footage shared on social media by rescue divers showed the five men crouched together on a rocky ledge in a dark cave chamber, surrounded by muddy water. “There’s no need to cry,” one of the rescue team told the men, who first entered the cave on Wednesday. Two men remain unaccounted for.
Group have been stuck in flooded cave in central Laos for five days after heavy rain caused landslidesDivers who helped in the dramatic rescue of a young Thai football team in 2018 have joined efforts to free seven people who have been trapped for five days inside a remote, flooded cave in central Laos.The group entered the cave in Xaysomboun province on Wednesday to hunt for wildlife and search for gold, reports suggest. Heavy rain led to landslides, which blocked the cave entrance. Continue re
Group have been stuck in flooded cave in central Laos for five days after heavy rain caused landslides
Divers who helped in the dramatic rescue of a young Thai football team in 2018 have joined efforts to free seven people who have been trapped for five days inside a remote, flooded cave in central Laos.
The group entered the cave in Xaysomboun province on Wednesday to hunt for wildlife and search for gold, reports suggest. Heavy rain led to landslides, which blocked the cave entrance.
Fathers of Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles, both 19, who died after a night out at the Nana backpackers hostel in 2024, say court decision is ‘absolute injustice’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe families of two Melbourne teenagers who died after drinking methanol-laced alcohol in Laos say they have been blindsided by news the workers responsible for serving the drinks received fines of just $185.Bianca Jones
Fathers of Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles, both 19, who died after a night out at the Nana backpackers hostel in 2024, say court decision is ‘absolute injustice’
The families of two Melbourne teenagers who died after drinking methanol-laced alcohol in Laos say they have been blindsided by news the workers responsible for serving the drinks received fines of just $185.
Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles, both 19, were killed by methanol poisoning along with four other tourists after a night out at the Nana backpackers hostel in Vang Vieng, a popular tourist destination in Laos, in November 2024.
Through static compositions and observational detail, the documentary explores how Laos’s visitors and residents inhabit the same spaces in very different waysShot in Laos, Kimi Takesue’s idiosyncratic documentary gazes upon sights and vistas that would not be out of place on travel postcards. Minimal in its camera movements, the film looks at glimmering golden temples, waterfalls cascading down silver rocks, and processions of monks moving through lush landscapes. It also shows what is absent f
Through static compositions and observational detail, the documentary explores how Laos’s visitors and residents inhabit the same spaces in very different ways
Shot in Laos, Kimi Takesue’s idiosyncratic documentary gazes upon sights and vistas that would not be out of place on travel postcards. Minimal in its camera movements, the film looks at glimmering golden temples, waterfalls cascading down silver rocks, and processions of monks moving through lush landscapes. It also shows what is absent from glossy brochures, namely the intrusion of tourists. The disruption to the local rhythm of life is at once visual and aural: we see throngs of wandering visitors, their casual clothes of shorts and T-shirts a stark contrast to the ancient architecture. Their occasionally rowdy leisure activities are intercut with more mundane moments from the locals’ everyday lives, like schoolchildren heading to class or laywomen offering alms to monks by the roadside.
There’s a sense of tension between the static camera and the movements that occur within the frame. Scenes of tourists being loaded on to buses bring to mind Jacques Tati’s 1967 classic Playtime, which gently pokes fun at the idea of an authentic cultural experience attained via consumerist means. The point of view in Takesue’s film, however, is on shakier grounds. Some of the visual juxtapositions veer towards reiterating well-worn binaries between the east and west, the regional and the global. For instance, most of the tourists seen in Onlookers are white; in truth, visitors to Laos largely come from neighbouring Asian countries. Likewise, the Laotian population is also far from homogeneous: one sequence shows middle-aged men playing a game of catch, with the caption telling us they are “arguing in Lao” – yet some of them are speaking Vietnamese.
Methanol, a cheap relative of ethanol, is entering the supply chain, causing thousands of deaths around the worldFor Bethany Clarke, poison tasted like nothing. There was no bitter aftertaste, no astringent sting at the back of the tongue. If anything, she thought in passing, the free shots she and her friends were drinking at a hostel bar in Laos had probably been watered down – she wasn’t detecting a strong vodka flavour through the veil of Sprite she had mixed it with.All in all, Clarke remem
Methanol, a cheap relative of ethanol, is entering the supply chain, causing thousands of deaths around the world
For Bethany Clarke, poison tasted like nothing. There was no bitter aftertaste, no astringent sting at the back of the tongue. If anything, she thought in passing, the free shots she and her friends were drinking at a hostel bar in Laos had probably been watered down – she wasn’t detecting a strong vodka flavour through the veil of Sprite she had mixed it with.
All in all, Clarke remembers drinking about five of those shots, sitting with her best friend, Simone White, and a crowd of others at the hostel’s happy hour. CCTV footage shows the group laughing in the warm air of the open bar in the town of Vang Vieng, green and red lights dancing over their shoulders.
Anmelden
