Rescue team enters flooded cave in Laos in effort to free seven people

 

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.

Laos' communist government, which tightly controls the country’s media, could not be reached for comment.

A journey of discovery on the Mekong through Laos |

The film sets out in a journey to the former royal city of Luang Prabang in Laos. It’s regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in southeast Asia and to this day, religion determines everyday life: Every morning, hundreds of monks walk through the city’s ancient center to collect their alms.

China’s New $6B Railway in Laos: Massive Debt Trap or Megaproject Success? |

A $6 billion Chinese-built railway in Laos is transforming a small town on the border of China, easing transportation and promising new products for export. The 262-mile rail line is a key part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, aimed at upgrading trade and transport networks from Africa to the Pacific.

Yes, China now owns Laos. 

 

The refugees feeding a nation - BBC News

 After the Vietnam War, France relocated a small group of 45 Hmong refugees from Laos to its overseas territory in South America, called French Guiana.

Dicing with death on the rivers of Vietnam and Laos (video)

Bamboo harvesters navigate rapids on rafts while Lao fishermen risk death casting their nets into a roaring waterfall.

There are two staples of Vietnamese life: rice and bamboo for its many uses.

The province of Thanh Hoa has one of the largest bamboo forests in Southeast Asia, with over 80,000 hectares of natural bamboo forest and 71,000 hectares of planted bamboo.

In just three years, the plant can grow up to eight metres tall.

With the global market for bamboo expanding, the bamboo industry contributes to Thanh Hoa's growing economy and sustains the livelihoods of thousands of small-scale farmers.

"Cutting the bamboo is very tiring work but it's the only we can make a living," says a bamboo labourer. "We go to the forest, cut the bamboo and carry it down to the river."

Laos: On the Borders of the Empire

We investigate China's rising influence in Laos and the potentially disastrous consequences for the local population.

Mandarin is the language of choice among its residents and on its street signs and advertising hoardings; clocks are set to Beijing time in homes, stores and even municipal buildings; and the Yuan is by far and away the most common currency.

Any overseas visitors dropping in to Ton Pheung could be excused for thinking themselves in China - albeit a slightly raunchy theme-park version with an unusual preponderance of massage parlours and nightclubs along its streets.

But Ton Pheung is actually in the far northwest of communist Laos - on the border with China, but still in name, if increasingly not in reality, a sovereign district of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Laos: On the Borders of the Empire

We investigate China's rising influence in Laos and the potentially disastrous consequences for the local population.

Mandarin is the language of choice among its residents and on its street signs and advertising hoardings; clocks are set to Beijing time in homes, stores and even municipal buildings; and the Yuan is by far and away the most common currency.

Any overseas visitors dropping in to Ton Pheung could be excused for thinking themselves in China - albeit a slightly raunchy theme-park version with an unusual preponderance of massage parlours and nightclubs along its streets.

But Ton Pheung is actually in the far northwest of communist Laos - on the border with China, but still in name, if increasingly not in reality, a sovereign district of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Laos: Saviours of the Street

101 East examines what is driving the high number of fatal road accidents in Laos and Southeast Asia.

When French paramedic Sebastian Perret witnessed a fatal accident in the Laos capital, Vientiane, in 2010, he was shocked that no ambulance came to help. 

Every day, four people die in road crashes across Laos, giving the country one of the region's worst road fatalities per capita in the region. Many more are injured but most cannot afford to pay a government ambulance to help them.

Unable to ignore the plight of the city's road crash victims, Perret set up Vientiane Rescue, a volunteer ambulance service. 

Vientiane Rescue's volunteers include school students and shopkeepers who deal with the carnage caused by speeding, drink driving, and underage motorists. 

Laos: Saviours of the Street

101 East examines what is driving the high number of fatal road accidents in Laos and Southeast Asia.



When French paramedic Sebastian Perret witnessed a fatal accident in the Laos capital, Vientiane, in 2010, he was shocked that no ambulance came to help.

Every day, four people die in road crashes across Laos, giving the country one of the region's worst road fatalities per capita in the region. Many more are injured but most cannot afford to pay a government ambulance to help them.

Unable to ignore the plight of the city's road crash victims, Perret set up Vientiane Rescue, a volunteer ambulance service.

Vientiane Rescue's volunteers include school students and shopkeepers who deal with the carnage caused by speeding, drink driving, and underage motorists.