Finnish cave diver Mikko Paasi has decided to stay in Laos to search for two people still trapped in a flooded cave in Xaysomboun Province, northern Laos.
Paasi, 39, a recipient of a Finnish presidential lifesaving medal and a veteran of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand, said his goodbyes to the rescue team on 2 June and was prepared to fly home.
But he showed up at the cave site on 3 June morning surprising the rest of the team, a video posted on Facebook by Thai rescuer Manat K Artmongkron showed.
Paasi “scrapped his ticket” and told his family he would not leave until the two missing villagers were found, Manat wrote on the post.
He arrived in Xaysomboun on 25 May alongside Thai cave diver Norrased “Ben” Palasing, with Thai instructor Parasu Komaradat providing remote guidance as authorities began pumping water and preparing diving operations.
Their mission was to find seven villagers trapped since 20 May, when flash flooding sealed the entrance of a cave in Long Chaeng district. The operation proved grueling, with teams navigating narrow, submerged passages while heavy rain, unstable rock formations and rising water levels repeatedly slowed progress.
As the operation intensified, international specialists joined.
Malaysian cave and mine diving expert Lee Kian Lie arrived on 28 May, followed by divers from Australia, Indonesia, France, Japan and Thailand.
Rescue teams located five survivors on 27 May. The first was brought out alive on the evening of 29 May, and four more followed the next day, completing the extraction of all five on the eleventh day of operations.
Two villagers remain inside and have not been located.


