29/05/2026
Aonic Lao Supports Cave Rescue in Xaysomboun
On 25 May 2026, two members of the Aonic Lao team joined the search and rescue operation at a flooded cave in Longjaeng district, Xaysomboun province, where seven villagers had been trapped since 20 May after flash flooding sealed the cave's only exit. The mission has drawn a multi-national response, including cave divers who supported the 2018 Tham Luang rescue in Thailand. Aonic Lao deployed LiDAR 3D scanning to map the cave interior and feed that data directly to the rescue teams working the tunnels.
The team used a handheld LiDAR scanner built to capture detailed spatial data in GPS-denied environments with dark passages, narrow trenches, and complex underground geometry where conventional survey tools fail. The scans were processed into point cloud and 3D models that allowed the rescue command to visualise the actual cave structure, plan extraction routes through passages as narrow as 60 centimetres, and assess risk before sending divers further in. By 27 May, five of the seven trapped villagers had been found alive more than 260 metres from the cave entrance. The search for the remaining two continues.
This is what Aonic is built for. Across Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Singapore, our country teams hold the technology and the field expertise to step into situations where standard tools are not enough. Our thanks go to the Aonic Lao team on the ground, and to every responder still working the mission. Because in a rescue, every second of better information is a chance to bring someone home.
Read more about the incident here: https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/28/world/video/moment-villagers-were-found-after-being-trapped-in-a-cave-over-a-week-hnk-digvid