Thai rescue workers have released a meditating Buddhist monk who was trapped inside a cave flooded for four days.
The monk, identified by rescuers as Phra Ajarn Manas, 46, was making a pilgrimage from another province and had entered Phra Sai Ngam Cave in Phitsanulok on Saturday to meditate.
A non-seasonal rainstorm fell Sunday and continued through Tuesday, flooding parts of the cave while inside, the local rescue unit said on its Facebook page.
Seventeen divers took part in the effort to find and free the monk from the site, which could only be accessed by divers. A video released by rescuers shows the monk equipped with a diving mask that swims 12 meters underwater.
The unit said local residents told them the monk was still trapped inside the cave on Tuesday afternoon. They went in to look for him, but had to cancel the operation after about an hour due to the rising water level. They were worried he was “exhausted or unconscious because he had nothing to eat.”
Images from the unit’s Facebook page on Wednesday showed the monk sitting inside the cave surrounded by rescue workers and taking his blood pressure. “At 11.30am we successfully rescued Phra Manas from the cave,” the unit said.
One of the rescue workers confirmed in a phone call that the monk was out of the cave and receiving first aid.
Thailand reached the world headlines in 2018 with the grand rescue of 12 Thai boys and their football coach from a flooded cave in the northern city of Chiang Rai.