“The first victim has been successfully rescued out of the cave,” the Thai rescue group said in a Facebook post accompanied by a picture of three men guiding another bedraggled and muddy man over unsteady ground.

The seven men had been trapped in the cavern in a remote mountainous area of central Xaysomboun province since May 20, when flash floods stranded them as they searched for gold, early state media reports said.

Five of the men were located alive on Wednesday, huddling in a narrow shaft around 300m from the cave mouth.

Footage filmed by rescue divers showed them muddy and despondent, complaining of chest pains and hunger pangs, while the remaining two of their group remain unaccounted for.

“One person has got out of the cave safely,” Thai rescue team member Kengkard Bonggawong said in a separate Facebook post on Friday. “We will assess the other four and we will hunt for the other two tomorrow.”