Hungry and weak, the Laos cave survivors huddled together in damp darkness for 11 days, clinging to hope as a wall of water blocked their way out.

Heavy rains threatened to delay the search for two people missing in a flooded cave in Laos on Sunday, after the rescue of five other people who were trapped underground for over a week.

Yet the joy remains incomplete for this community as two other villagers, believed to have entered the cave system earlier than the five rescued men, remain missing.