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Connect the World
Urgent Rescue Underway for Five Men Trapped Deep in Cave; Romanian Apartment Building Hit by Drone, Injuring Two; Blue Origin's Rocket Explodes on Launchpad; Suspected Cases of Disease in DR Congo Climb to 1,077; W.H.O. Chief Says Ebola Outbreak is Outpacing Response; Kenyan Court Orders Halt to Plan for U.S. Ebola Facility. Aired 9-10a ET
Aired May 29, 2026 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: At this moment, a rescue attempt is underway to free five people trapped in a remote underground cave for
more than a week. A CNN team is at the scene. We'll be bringing you an update on that in just a bit. It is 08:00 p.m. in Laos.
It is 05:00 p.m. here in Abu Dhabi. I'm Eleni Giokos. This is "Connect the World". Also coming up on the show, a court stops U.S. plans for an Ebola
quarantine facility in Kenya. Details on the blow back from the Director General of Africa Centers for Disease Control.
In the meantime, markets in the U.S. are going to open in around 30 minutes from now. It is the last trading day for the month of May. And right now,
we're pointing to a positive start. You've got the NASDAQ, S&P, and DOW all sitting in positive territory. It is as investors hope for a deal to end
the Iran war.
We'll be monitoring all the developments on that front as well throughout the show. In the meantime, we are following breaking news out of Laos,
where the race to rescue five men trapped inside a remote cave is underway. CNN is the first international news outlet at the scene.
Our Will Ripley and his team had to take a helicopter to a remote area. Will, filed this report for us, exclusive report a short time ago. Let's
take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, we're taking off. Got speed. Right now, we're heading towards the mountains,
although you can see they're pretty difficult to see. They're obscured by clouds and fog. Weather has been a real problem with the effort to reach
the miners out of that cave, because every time it rains.
And its monsoon season, so it's raining every day, it just floods the caves, and the water levels rise and make it difficult to bring anybody out
or in. And directly below us is where this cave rescue is unfolding as we speak, and you get a sense of just how dangerous and rugged this
mountainous jungle terrain is.
It would have taken us close to 10 hours, if we were driving here. The helicopter flight is taking us just about 40 minutes. Whenever it rains,
the water disappears into these mountains, creating this vast underground limestone cave network with these hidden rivers and sinkholes and air
pockets, where it's believed that those villagers were trapped.
It's also monsoon season. It's raining almost every day here. So, when the water goes down, it instantly floods those caves, which is putting the
lives of the villagers and the rescuers in danger. Getting equipment out here has been a huge challenge, because as we flew in here, we saw that
most of the roads are winding dirt roads only passable during daylight hours.
It's impossible to drive at night. It's much too dangerous, but they need that heavy equipment, particularly large generators, so that they can pump
the water out of the caves in between rain swarms to try to get the water levels low enough so that the divers can fall out without having to attempt
an extremely careless dive, pitch black murky water, but the villagers say their health condition is deteriorating.
They've been sending video messages to their families, they're desperately waiting to be reunited with their loved ones, and even though they now have
good and medical care. Nate Floyd (ph) said that they feel like if they have to spend much longer down in that cave. It might not --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: I want to show you now a second video, also filed by CNN, Will Ripley and his team, as they report from the ground near the search and
rescue headquarters. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RIPLEY: This is the farthest we're allowed to go without getting permission to join rescue crews who are heading up that dirt road, there you can
actually see the piece of heavy machinery that's being used to clear this road. They've been clearing the road in the last few days because they want
to bring in a large generator.
And in fact, multiple generators that they're using to pump the water out of the cave. I just want to walk you around and show you a little bit more
about this scene here. This is basically the main access road, where they're bringing in food, they're bringing in supplies, and they're
bringing in personnel.
We just saw a team of cave divers who arrived here a short time ago. They actually flew in by military helicopter, landing in this small village. A
lot of the people who were involved, not only in the search, but also those who are trapped in the caves themselves, they come from this surrounding
village, and you can just see the condition of the roads here.
You also see emergency vehicles, like an ambulance, on standby. You can see from the road, from the puddle there, how much it's been raining in recent
days. But the good news today, if you look up, you can see it's been blue skies.
[09:05:00]
And they have had a period of dry weather, so they're saying that they've drained the water to the lowest levels inside the cave that it has been
since the beginning of this search and rescue effort, and that means that in the coming hours we're told they may attempt to bring the survivors out
if their physical condition is well enough that they can actually walk out on their own and don't need to be carried out on stretchers.
We've actually seen the divers practicing putting people on stretchers, if need be, but some of the areas of the cave are so narrow the survivors are
going to have to have the strength to crawl through themselves. And some of them have been saying that their health condition is deteriorating, sitting
in that cave underground, breathing in that air, they're start to really wear on them and take a toll on their bodies.
So, time is of the essence here at the search and rescue headquarters, as cave divers are hoping that they can bring these people safely home,
although they're still searching for two others who remain missing. Will Ripley, CNN in Central Laos.
Down into the cave, hoping that their loved ones can receive it, and they've been camping out there around the clock, so this has been really an
ordeal, obviously, for the people underground who are now fighting to come back up to the surface. A very dangerous operation, by the way.
Even skilled rescue divers can die in a situation like this, not to mention people who are weakened after spending so many days in such a precarious
and difficult situation. And yet, that is what's happening right now. A lot of people praying that they can pull together the strength to make it out
of this cave safe and alive, and of course, the search is still continuing for two other villagers who are still missing inside the cave. We're
waiting for official word about them, Kate.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Will, it's John Berman. If you can hear me, you are the world's sole possessor right now. I think of a piece of audio which
tells this story, so if you can play it again, can you play that phone message you got again, so we can hear it and explain what it is and what
it's saying and why it's so helpful. Do what you need to do. I know that it's obviously --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Story of my life. What's the passcode?
BERMAN: A technical bit of an issue here.
RIPLEY: Isaac -- where can you show me where the voice memo is? We're going to get access to the phone. It was not on my phone. This is Isaac, our star
producer, by the way, one of our amazing team out here. We've got John, we've got Kocha we've got Becks (ph).
These guys are champions that they got us on the air in the middle of the jungle. I mean, it is just incredible arranging a helicopter ride.
BERMAN: Right.
RIPLEY: So, let me just play to you again the last 15 seconds of this interview that we were doing right before the interview here, let's see,
time code 721. All right --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As you --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They can leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, you're a professional diver, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For how many years sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think about 13 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 13 years -- they're coming out --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- think about -- they're coming out --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah --
RIPLEY: -- phone disconnected. So again, nothing official, but there was a lot of excitement inside the cave, and the phone call cut off just as we
were wrapping up a really important and interesting interview, because they were explaining to us how they're training these villagers to get out of
this cave with their own power.
And they're actually going to have to do some diving under ice cold water to do it. So, this is -- what they're saying, is they weren't sure if
anybody was going to make it out tonight. They might need to wait until tomorrow to give them some time to rest, because they've been working with
them for so long.
But it sounds like at least somebody maybe has made it through, and obviously we're waiting for any more details. There are ambulances, at
least two of them behind me, there's another ambulance over there that are standing by to bring anybody to the hospital as quickly as possible.
Also, medics, of course, on scene, about 100 people are up that road there, of course, now in pitch black, although they've lit the scene with
generators, and we're obviously monitoring all the social media, all of the video feeds that are coming out of the cave almost in real time, because
they've been able to miraculously install wi-fi down in the cave.
And the villagers have even been sending video messages up to their loved ones, but being sending a video message is a lot different from actually
crawling physically through very, very difficult. You see the map of the cave to go from 800 feet down through ice cold water and up at times a 45-
degree angle to get out, it's not for the fainthearted.
And certainly not for somebody that's been underground as long as they have, but this is what they're going to have to do it. Right now, in order
to come out of this situation alive.
BERMAN: They're coming out is what it said on that phone message that you were able to play. And Will, if you can, I want you to describe where you
are on planet Earth right now, so people understand how remote your location is. Then, where you are vis-a-vis this cave, and then where the
people in the cave are, and how the mechanics of this are all going to work?
[09:10:00]
RIPLEY: So we are in Central Thailand, in Long Tieng, which is a province that may be familiar to some Americans, because during the Vietnam War,
it's very close to here that there was a secret CIA base. It was actually a city that was never on any map during the Vietnam War, but it was a key
military intelligence gathering hub.
It's about a 45-minute helicopter flight to get here from the Capital of Laos, which is what we did. Our drivers that took a lot of our gear, they
had to drive more than 10 hours through roads that are so treacherous you can't drive on them at night. You can only pass on these roads, a lot many
of them dirt roads during the daytime hours.
You have to leave early in the morning to get here before the sun goes down, because at night there's too high of a risk of accidents. There are
also millions of American bombs that were dropped on the jungle terrain between the capital and where we are right now. Many of those bombs are
unexploded, and every year people in Laos still die from running into unexploded ordnance.
So, the fact that these people went through thick jungle up to this cave, which is about a 40-minute walk up this dirt road behind me. This barricade
here is kind of the line where you can't pass it unless you're an emergency worker or a family member. Even hiking through jungle, even clearing this
road, potentially could be risky.
So, you might ask, what were these people doing in this cave in the first place, in the middle of monsoon season, where it's been raining every day,
except for today, where there's been a break in the rain. They were going in that cave because they were looking for gold.
There have been reports that there are pockets of gold that have been found in that cave, and there's actually some people that live in villages around
here that make a living and try to support their families by crawling into these dangerous spaces, mining in these areas, and looking for gold.
The problem with that is that everybody is working individually, they're not working as part of some greater corporation. These are individuals that
are trying to go into the cave to find gold, and so as a result, there's no coordination. They may or may not have been aware of the weather forecast
that day that the monsoon rays caused the cave to flood in a matter of minutes.
And also, when they were trapped, they actually didn't know how many other people were inside the cave. The only reason that we know about the people
being inside the cave is that there was one person who knew that there were others in the group who managed to escape on day one.
And that's the reason why they began the search, because one person who knew the cave well was able to escape despite the rising waters, and to
alert everybody. Otherwise, we might not even be out here right now. They could have been stuck down there for even longer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And when, and now, where we are in this moment, waiting for more information after you had that -- if you had that phone
call, where you heard someone say they're coming out, who, who are you talking to, Will? Like, where -- what were -- how do they know where are
they?
RIPLEY: So, Lee Chen (ph), who we were on the phone with, is one of the experienced divers who actually has been -- we actually saw a helicopter, a
military helicopter with divers arrives shortly after we did this afternoon. There were other helicopters that have been arriving in the last
couple of days.
You have divers from Thailand, you have, if you have a Finnish cave diving expert, you have experts that have flown in from France, really from all
over the world. Anybody who knows how to deal with cave rescues. And remember, they had a major cave rescue, not here in Laos, but in Thailand,
back in 2018 when the wild boar soccer team was stranded underground. They were all eventually rescued safely after 18 days.
But actually, one of the divers, one of the militaries that were actually assigned to help rescue them, they actually perished in Thailand during
that rescue. So, these rescuers, these cave divers, including the one that we were on the phone with, really are putting their lives on the line to go
in there selflessly, and to try to get these less experienced villagers, who maybe have some experience in mines, but not the kind of operation to
get them out of a flooded mine is like what's happening right now.
Just amazing, as this is unfolding. Will, you and your team are doing amazing reporting on the ground. And this is all happening as we speak.
We're going to stick close to Will. He's working his sources very clearly and successfully, and we're going to bring you updates as we heard on that
phone call from that diver that Will was just talking about.
They're coming out. Who and where are they? We will keep very close to this and bring you updates as they come in. We'll be right back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:15:00]
GIOKOS: Right before the break. You were watching exclusive breaking news as CNN team on the ground near that cave in Laos. We will stay very close
to all of that, Will Ripley is on the ground and following developments for us as they happen, but now to a major question, and this, of course, has
been happening for almost three months now.
Deal or no deal, U.S. officials say Washington and Tehran have reached a tentative agreement to open the critical Strait of Hormuz and start nuclear
talks, but President Donald Trump has yet to give his approval. Vice President JD Vance, saying that what he calls a couple of language points
are still being discussed.
Pakistan, a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran, says its foreign minister will meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington.
That's happening in the next hour, while we wait to hear if they have a deal, Iran is warning of what it calls utter ruin if the war resumes.
I want to get now to White House, and we've got CNN's Kevin Liptak standing by for us. I mean, to be honest, so much back and forth, Kevin, and it's
been happening for quite some time. What is the likelihood of President Trump approving this deal? What are you hearing?
KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, officials seem to think that they're getting closer to a final deal, but it is, I think,
quite hard to tell whether this is something real or if this is another mirage. You know, we've been down this road before where it seems as if a
deal is in hand only for everything to kind of fall apart.
And so, the way we understand it is that the Iranians came to the United States, or to the Americans this week, said that they were comfortable with
the text of the deal. President Trump told his advisers that he needed a few days to decide whether to sign off on it.
You know, according to the officials that I've been speaking with today, they think it's unlikely that the president is going to sign off unless he
has a firm assurance that the Iranian Supreme Leader has given his approval to the deal, and so it seems as if we're still in a place where each side
wants to make sure the other is going to agree to it before they give the final approval, the deal that's coming together now would reopen the Strait
of Hormuz.
This is according to a U.S. official. The Iranians would lift their constrictions on the strait, it would be open to traffic, no tolls,
unrestricted to commercial vessels passing through, and then the U.S. would start this phased lifting of the blockade that they have put in place of
the Iranian ports.
And I think the hope has been that doing this progressive approach would give an incentive to the Iranians to start pulling out their mines that
they have put in the waterway over the last several months or so. The deal would also include the phased financial relief that the Iranians are
looking for, you know, lifting of sanctions and unfreezing of assets.
That's going to be a very politically difficult topic for the president, who has spent the last, you know, year or so, talking about the quote
unquote pallets of cash that were delivered to Iran as part of the Obama era nuclear deal, and so how all of that is kind of massaged politically, I
think, will be something to watch.
But of course, the critical issue, which is Iran's nuclear program has sort of been punted to the next phase of negotiations.
[09:20:00]
The two sides will discuss some of the thorniest issues, and in particular, what happens to Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium as part of the
next phase of discussions that will last about 60 days. And so, we do have sort of the broad contours of the deal, we don't know yet whether the two
sides are, you know finalized in some of the understandings and some of the language and text.
So, I think all in all we're in a position where it still is uncertain whether this deal is going to be reached or not, but it does seem as if
there's optimism, at least at the White House, that they're getting closer to something final.
GIOKOS: Yeah. Well, Kevin will be watching this consequential meeting happening in the next one hour in D.C. as well. Kevin Liptak for us with
that update. Thank you so much. Well, Israel is moving to tighten its grip on Gaza. Speaking during an interview in the occupied West Bank on
Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF has been directed to take over 70 percent of the enclave, and that would be in violation of
the October 2025 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Under that deal, Israeli forces had to withdraw to a so-called yellow line, which left them in control of just over half of Gaza. Here's how he
described that plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Right now, we are tightening our grip on Hamas. Yes, we are now in 60 percent of the territory in the
Gaza Strip. We were at 50 percent we moved to 60 percent. My directive is to move to take it step by step. First of all, 70.
Let's start with that. We are tightening our grip on them from every direction, and we will deal with the remnants.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Russia's war in Ukraine has again been and seen destruction to neighboring countries, this time in Romania, where a drone hit an apartment building,
injuring two people. The building is located in Galati, close to the Ukrainian border. The Romanian Defense Ministry says this is the 28th time
Russian drones have breached its airspace since starting attacks on Kyiv's nearby ports, leaving people in Romania to question the intent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN EVELYN, AMERICAN LIVING IN GALATI: It's another provocation by the Russians. I don't believe this was an accident. This happened too many
times for the Russians to be doing this by accident. Either that, or they're highly incompetent at waging war. But NATO needs to do something
about this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GIOKOS: CNN's Sebastian Shukla is across the story for us. He joins us now from Berlin. Sebastian, good to have you with us. Give me a sense of the
damage that has been incurred in Romania.
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Yeah, good afternoon, Eleni. I think the damage here has been relatively sustained in the broader context. This
drone, this Geran-2 drone that crossed the border from Ukraine into Romania, struck this apartment building, and it only injured two people.
And I say only injured, which of course is always horrible to hear, but the fatalities obviously could have been much worse. And what experts on the
ground are saying is that had it just struck a few floors below, we could really be looking at a mass casualty incident.
But Eleni, the context again around how this and why this drone struck this building, I think, is also important to note. What we saw last night in
Ukrainian airspace, once again, is a launching of drones and missiles across all of Ukraine, but in particular in this southern, western parts of
the country, around the City of Odessa.
And these targets appear to have been a string of ports along the Danube River, which separates Ukraine and Romania. And this drone appears to have
exited Russian airspace and entered Romanian air space, where it ultimately hit this building. What the Romanians have been saying is that they tracked
it all the way, entered its airspace at 01:52 a.m. and it traveled for some 10 kilometers.
But they weren't able to bring it down, because they were worried about the knock-on effect, the collateral damage that that would have of remnants of
it and parts of its own missile that would shoot it down falling on populated areas. So, in that sense the numbers of injured here are
relatively low, as opposed to what they could be.
Of course, Eleni, the Romanians themselves are absolutely furious by what has happened, because two people have been injured, which is something
that, although Romania has seen attacks like this before, and has been the recipient of these errant drones. There has never been people injured.
Take a listen to what the Romanian President, who's just been speaking on state TV, has been telling the Romanian people.
[09:25:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICUSOR DAN, ROMANIAN PRESIDENT: We had a serious incident last night in which two Romanian citizens were injured, and the entire responsibility for
this incident lies with Russia, a country that has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine for more than four years.
In view of the situation, the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Constanta has been declared persona non grata, and the Consulate General of
the Russian Federation Constanta will close.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SHUKLA: So, the ire of the Romanian President there. Russia, for its part, has said Dmitry Peskov, the spokesperson for the Russian President, who's
traveling in Kazakhstan right now, has said the president is aware of exactly what happened. And the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a fairly
blase statement where it said Westerners need the publicity surrounding the drone in Romania to divert attention from Zelenskyy's murder of children in
Starobilsk.
Which is a reference to an attack launched by Ukrainian armed forces in the occupied region of Luhansk, where Russian armed forces say some 21 college
students were killed in that strike, something that the Ukrainians refute entirely, Eleni, a very delicate situation, and something that we're seeing
across this region of becoming more and more prevalent.
GIOKOS: All right, appreciate your reporting there, Sebastian Shukla for us. Now, I want to take you to a shocking sight at Cape Canaveral. A Blue
Origin rocket blew up on a launch pad overnight during a ground test. We're told everyone's OK, no casualties, but the new Glen rocket that was
supposed to be part of lunar missions won't be going anywhere.
Blue Origin is calling this an anomaly, which is space peak for an explosion or mishap. Look at that explosion. All right, we leave you this
image as we go to a break, and I'll be back right after this. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GIOKOS: Welcome back. I'm Eleni Giokos, live in Abu Dhabi, and you're watching "Connect the World". Right now, we're closely following the
evacuation operation for five men trapped inside a remote cave in Laos. During a phone interview with CNN, rescue divers were heard shouting, they
are coming out.
The stranded men are over 200 meters inside that flooded cave system, and once they emerge, they will be taken to waiting ambulances. We expect a new
live report from Will Ripley at any moment now, and we will bring that to you as soon as we can.
[09:30:00]
U.S. President Donald Trump is weighing a deal with Iran that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Now that's according to officials, and they say
Washington and Tehran have reached a tentative agreement. And U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet soon with his Pakistani
counterpart.
In the meantime, we're seconds away from the start of trade in New York. This would be the last trading day for the month of May. All right, it has
been, of course, a major case of whiplash over the last few months, and that's because of the war in Iran. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz,
that has been sending oil prices moving all over the place.
And of course, affecting the way corporate America is responding, but markets have actually been really resilient. You've got the DOW JONES flat
slightly positive right now. S&P and NASDAQ also in an upward trajectory at this moment as we close off the month of May.
In the meantime, we are also focusing on oil prices, which of course are focusing very closely on what happens with that deal between the U.S. and
Iran. We'll focus on that story in just a moment. In the meantime, health workers in Africa are in an uphill battle to halt the spread of the Ebola
virus.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has now reported more than 1000 suspected cases and nearly 250 people are believed to have died from Ebola in
neighboring Uganda. The numbers are thankfully much smaller, but rising. The World Health Organization is calling the outbreak an emergency of
international concern.
Dr. Jean Kaseya is the Director General of the Africa CDC. He now joins me from Bujumbura in Burundi. Dr. Kaseya, great to have you with us. Thank you
so much. This is an important moment, and I want to focus on the pledges that you have received over the last few days from partners.
Those pledges have almost halved in the past week. Do you know why they've reneged on those pledges, and what does that mean for your response on the
ground?
DR. JEAN KASEYA, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE AFRICA CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL: We need to know that this outbreak is serious, and we had a
meeting with all partners based on the regional plan that was developed by all countries. We were looking for $319 million.
We got pledges for around 489 million, and suddenly these pledges are going down, and yesterday we had only 218 million. What we are saying, and this
is why I came to see the President of Burundi, was also leading the African Union to call for a meeting of Ad Hoc State next week.
And to see how to bring also our partners for now to decide how much we need to put to finalize, you know what we started to do, we need to stop
this outbreak from today.
GIOKOS: OK, so let me ask you this, doctor, and this is quite important, you've also been very vocal about some of the flight bans and the travel
bans that have been put in place, specifically focused on Uganda, the DRC, and South Sudan, where there are no active cases.
Do you believe that the reaction from the international community is the right approach right now, given that we are also heading close to the World
Cup, where Canada, the U.S., and Mexico have also instituted protocols?
KASEYA: I think Western countries, they didn't learn from the COVID lesson. We, in Africa, we developed mistrust vis-a-vis Western countries. We are
thinking that when they were coming to us, they took time to learn from that. What we are seeing today, with all of these travel restrictions,
knowing that this is a very important moment for the world.
What we are seeing, the international regulations, is clear on that. We don't close our border, we put in place measures to test or to protect
people, closing our borders, not helping people to fly.
GIOKOS: Right.
KASEYA: This one is increasing the mistrust, and this mistrust will also lead for other actions that can come from Africa. And our call today is
Africa needs solidarity from our partners.
[09:35:00]
GIOKOS: -- doctor.
KASEYA: Let us work together --
GIOKOS: OK, Dr. Kaseya, we also know that there was an effort by the U.S. government to open up an Ebola treatment facility specifically for any U.S.
citizens that were affected in the DRC. The king and High Court has just blocked that decision. What is your understanding of what's going on right
now?
And do you agree with opening up other facilities in countries where there are no active cases? What is the risk of doing that?
KASEYA: We need first to know that Kenya is a high-risk country. We in Africa CDC, we mapped around 11 countries that are high risk, in addition
to the two countries that are affected, and we also know that Kenya is a hub for African countries. I didn't have official communication from the
Kenyan government, but I made it clear yesterday that there are a number of concerns that we are sharing.
And I will want to hear more about how Kenyan government is approaching that without before making further comment.
GIOKOS: OK, let me ask you this. In terms of containing the Ebola outbreak and the spread, you've dealt with that before in 2018 we know what happened
in West Africa in 2014. What, what needs to happen right now to ensure this doesn't become a regional crisis and potentially a global crisis.
KASEYA: Currently, this outbreak is already a regional outbreak, as you know when an outbreak is in more than one country, it becomes a regional
issue, but I understand you want to know if it can be extended to other countries, not only in the region, but also the continent.
What we are doing, and this is what the head of state will also discuss, we are putting in place strong cross-border measures. We are putting in place
capacity to test, to isolate, and also to report timely. We are having all of this mechanism in mostly all African countries currently.
I think I'm so confident that with what we are putting in place we can prevent the spread, the huge spread of this outbreak.
GIOKOS: You know, I mentioned the World Cup a little earlier, and I want to circle back to this, because I think it's important. There is major concern
with players that would be traveling to host countries, importantly for fans as well. Are you concerned about potential super spreader events?
You know, are you suggesting quarantining for 20 days, because that's how long it takes for Ebola basically to sort of really show up in someone's
system. What is your suggestion right now as frankly, there's fear spreading around what we're seeing?
KASEYA: Look, as a public health leader, I need to make sure that we don't spread the outbreak in other countries and other continents. This is
obvious, but we need also to know there are other measures that we can take to prevent that, and currently we are in conversation with our partners to
understand all of these measures that they are putting in place.
Yes, from one side, a country like DRC, for decades they didn't go to World Cup. It's an excitement for them to go to participate, and some of them,
they are not understanding, and they are ready to do the tests. They are ready to do everything that -- countries they are requesting.
I think the conversation is ongoing because we cannot limit, we cannot stop these people to celebrate this World Cup. It's for all of us.
GIOKOS: Yeah. All right. Well, Dr. Kaseya, I know that you're putting a lot of effort on the ground, in terms of resources, in terms of protecting
people, I know it's a big job ahead of you. I wish you and all the health workers on the ground the very best as you face this reality.
So, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate your time. We have some breaking news that I want to take you to now.
[09:40:00]
We've got CNN's Will Ripley on the ground outside that Laos Cave, giving us an exclusive live update. Let's take you to CNN U.S. for that report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm grateful and proud that people from other countries came to help us. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- say I'm so happy. The foreigners come to help --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so excited and happy that I'll get to see my husband again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- excited --
RIPLEY: And so, we don't know yet the identity of the first villager to make it out, but obviously families are gathering here. They want to know
who it is. I'll just play the last 15 seconds of the call for you one more time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For how many years sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think about 13 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 13 years -- they're coming out --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- think about -- they're coming out --
RIPLEY: So, we don't know who's coming out yet, but we'll find out soon, and we'll be here monitoring it. Kocha, thank you for everything that
you've done.
KOCHA OLRAN, CNN PRODUCER: OK.
RIPLEY: I'm in awe.
OLRAN: It's a miracle. Yeah.
RIPLEY: It will. The hard work of our team that's been out here to get us on the air has also been a miracle. And everybody back at headquarters as
well, we appreciate the support. It takes a village, but we're here. We're going to stay out here watching what happens.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because some, I mean, more information will come, especially with the contacts that you have. And I'm just thinking, as we're
looking at the video -- and we're hearing from both of you the conditions that they are facing, it's not just that they have been in darkness without
adequate food and water, maybe for more than a week.
You have the temperature of the water use of is absolutely frigid down there, which is understandable. You have there's also the air quality that
had started becoming something of a question in the last couple days because of problems of air flow actually getting in and some, and I'm going
to screw it up, will, but like sulfur, something or other was in mixed in the air as well. What are you -- What is --
RIPLEY: No. Let me tell you. You bring up a really interesting. Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm really glad you brought that up, Kate, because that's a super
interesting and kind of like disgusting detail. Part of the reason why the air quality in the cave has been deteriorating is because rotten bat eggs
have been emitting poisonous gas.
And some of the rescuers from these rotten bat eggs have it's actually caused them to be dizzy and have to sit down and have to get medical
treatment on the outside of the cave. So, you got a whole lot of unpleasant things that you're dealing with when you're 800 feet underground stuck in a
cave, you've got moldy, pitch black, muddy water from the surface.
You've got rotten bat eggs, and you're in total darkness. You know, another interesting fact, the villagers, obviously, they had no sense, really, of
time. There's no daylight, you know, they didn't have any light, they were down there in pitch black. So, when the rescuers arrived, the villagers
insisted that they had been down there for 18 days.
They said that they counted, and they were sure that it's 18 days, but in fact, what officials say at that time, they had only been down there for
seven days. Those seven days in those conditions felt like 18 days, and now you can only imagine how slow time must be ticking away as they look at
these, maybe final hours inside the cave, and knowing the dangerous journey they have to get from the chamber.
They're stuck in to breathing fresh air finally again at the mouth of the cave, 850 feet away, with icy black water and 45 degree climbs to get
there.
BERMAN: One very quick question, each person, do we know if each person has to get all the way out before they try to get the next even begin taking
the next person out, or will they all start moving one by one as soon as they can?
RIPLEY: I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, it's one by one, right, Kocha, so they're not there, don't have to, they don't have to move everybody out
in a group, and then take them to the next. They have to go one at a time, because it's too narrow.
OLRAN: Yes.
RIPLEY: You can't even have people going down and going up at the same time. So, you can only -- there's only room for one person to pass through.
So, I believe it's one villager at a time now.
OLRAN: Yes.
RIPLEY: Whether are they going to try to have others dive tonight, or --
OLRAN: We don't know for certain. When I spoke to my Thai diver, he said it depends on each individual's comfortable level, because some might not, you
know, feel, you know, convenient to use this new diving equipment yet, you know, some might not make it today, but maybe later, yeah.
RIPLEY: Yeah, so I think we don't know the answer to that yet, but it does seem as if maybe they're asking who feels strong enough, who feels like
they're up to this, and obviously the divers that have been down there training with them also would have an assessment of, OK, who's doing all
right, who can try to make it.
[09:45:00]
But one of the reasons why they're really trying to get this done now is because we have had a rare break in the weather. We haven't seen rain since
we landed today, and every other day that they've been engaged in this search. There's been heavy rain. It's rainy season, monsoon season.
The rain can pop up out of nowhere, and if there was another big storm that could flood the tunnels again, and this could all, this problem could get a
lot worse. There'd be more people down there when they happen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, saying, and put even more people in danger, who are in there trying to help them get out. To both of you, thank you so
much. Much more to come. We are waiting for updates from Will and our team on the ground. Thank you both so, so much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GIOKOS: All right, Will Ripley there on the ground in Laos, monitoring those rescue operations, five men that have been found in that cave, very
treacherous conditions, cold, and of course were trapped for over seven days. On Wednesday, they were found, and it seems that the rescuers are
making headway.
Two more people are still missing. We've got CNN's Will Ripley on the ground there in Laos, and he, of course, will be giving us more information
as we get it. Really consequential moment right now. Importantly, it is monsoon season. Will Ripley was telling us about that.
They had to pump out the water from the flooded cave, which made these rescue operations a lot more difficult, and again, just in a very remote
area, these villagers actually had gone into the cave looking for gold, and, of course, became trapped there because of the rain, because of the
flooding within the cave.
Rescue teams, of course, on the ground there, finding the villagers, and they were in, of course, very dire conditions, and importantly, who were
hungry, waiting for some water, fresh water. Clearly, now very different scenario that we're talking about. Hopefully, a moment where we can
celebrate and see some of these villages that will be exiting.
There were 260 meters from the caves entrance. A big question around whether anyone would find them, and the question is, how did we even know
that these men were trapped? Apparently, one of the people that went into the cave searching for gold decided to leave.
He got his -- made his way out, and, of course, alerted authorities that these colleagues were trapped. Again, very important to note, two people
still missing, and we're seeing some of the images now, in terms of the rescuers trying to get into the cave, and as you can see, very tight
spaces, very confined.
We're talking about very dark area, and now the big question is getting those villages out. Right, we're going to very short break. We're
monitoring the story. I'll be back with an update right after this. Stick with CNN. All right, we're not going to break. We have Will Ripley, who's
on the ground in Laos. And Will, can you hear me? All right, you're there.
RIPLEY: Hi, Eleni. Yes, I can. Hello.
GIOKOS: Good to see you and great reporting. We're watching to see. Yeah. Tell me, what -- tell me, in terms of developments, we're waiting for that
moment where people will be coming out. What are you hearing?
RIPLEY: Right, so we were on the phone with one of the rescue divers. A rescue diver from Malaysia, who was called in to help assist with this
rescue, and he was giving us information from inside the cave. He was telling us how the rescue divers have spent several hours in the inner
chamber of the cave, teaching these five villagers, who are stuck, how to basically dive through a 30 meter, about 100-foot-long chamber of ice-cold
black water to get to a second chamber, where then they have to take off the diving equipment and climb and walk.
But mostly climb and crawl their way out for about 220 more meters, or several 100 feet to get to the mouth of the cave. Right when we were
wrapping the conversation with the diver, as he was explaining this process to us. Something happened on the phone, and I'll play that for you now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For how many years sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think about 13 years.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 13 years -- they're coming out --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- think about -- they're coming out --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: -- phone call disconnected. We then confirmed from that same rescue diver that one of the villagers had had been able to leave the chamber
where they were trapped. He arrived in a second chamber, where the other rescue divers were located, and now we believe he's in the process of
preparing to, or climbing the additional remaining 200 or so meters, sometimes at a 45-degree angle, to get out to the mouth of the cave and to
breathe in fresh air.
[09:50:00]
So, these developments have been happening as we've been speaking, none of this had been announced officially or made public by officials yet. It was
on this phone call earlier when that happened. We have had more officials arriving here throughout the hour. Apparently, there is a governor that has
just arrived on the scene who has asked us or told us that we need to stop broadcasting.
Kocha, our producer is speaking with them right now, so I'm not sure what's going to happen, but we're hoping that we can stay out here, Eleni, and
continue to monitor this situation. Obviously, we want to see these two ambulances that are standing by here to bring any survivors back.
GIOKOS: Yeah, I mean, you know, if you need to drop off, just let us know, but I think the story is so consequential. We're all watching very closely
and hoping for the best. You know, when I look at the map of the cave, those very tight confined spaces, will you know, you need highly trained
rescuers and divers to help these villages to move through those spaces.
What are you hearing in terms of, you know, how difficult this is going to be to try and move them through, even though you heard that, you know, that
conversation that they will be coming out very soon. We're seeing some of these images, we're talking about a very delicate, very difficult rescue
mission.
RIPLEY: Yeah, I mean, it's really been an extraordinary and really well- concerted and coordinated effort between the Laotian authorities, who called in experts from Thailand. You know, Laos and Thailand are very
close. It was described by our producer, Kocha, almost like brother and sister culturally, so they've been working together really seamlessly on
the scene here to coordinate this effort.
Obviously, the experts from Thailand are very familiar in what it takes to rescue someone from a cave, because they rescued the Wild Boar soccer team
from a cave in Thailand back in 2018 and they were able to bring back all of the members of that team and their coaches alive after 18 days
underground.
So, they have said that they've been putting lessons from that cave rescue in 2018 to use during this cave rescue here in Laos, but obviously the
circumstances are very different. The cave back in 2018 was a natural cave, it was a much larger cave, whereas the mining shaft that they're stuck in
about 40 minutes' walk up a hill behind me, you can't see now, because it's after dark, but it's basically a very steep dirt road to get up there to
the mouth of the cave.
It's very narrow, hand dug, potentially unstable, and very prone to flooding. If another rainstorm were to break out, those caverns could
actually fill up with water again in a matter of minutes, and you've got really, you have rescue divers that are risking their lives right now to go
down there and to try to help these villagers get out while we have a window of dry weather, which has given them this rare opportunity perhaps
to get the water levels low enough that they don't have to swim more.
They only have to dive through about 30 meters of water, as opposed to potentially having to swim through hundreds of meters of water if the
tunnels were to fill back up again if a major rainstorm were to hit.
GIOKOS: Yeah. Please take me through that, because I know that had to pump some of the water out. We know that naturally in caves the temperature
drops, so you know when you talk about freezing cold water, that just complicates everything. Give me a sense about the conditions as you
understand them.
RIPLEY: Yeah, so what the diver that we were speaking with on the phone said is that this water -- the water levels were higher than what we
thought they were, because they've had large generators up on top of this hill here at the mouth of the cave. These generators have been working
around the clock to pump the water out.
And yet still the water is so deep that they're going to have to dive through some of it, and the temperature of the water is extraordinarily
low. On top of that, the air quality in the cave has been deteriorating, partially because of CO2 partially because of rotting bat eggs, which have
been emitting a poisonous chemical that's actually caused some of the rescue divers to feel dizzy and have to sit down.
So, people, the villagers who've been stuck there now for 10 days, have been complaining that they're having a harder time breathing. So, they're
not necessarily in the best physical condition, having to undertake a dive that they're not trained for, they've never had to try before.
This is probably the first time they're having to use this equipment enough to go through 30 meters of pitch-black ice-cold water just to get to the
second chamber, and then begin that arduous climb out of the cave.
GIOKOS: Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And you know, hungry, thirsty, stuck for 10 days. You've also been speaking to some community members and some family
members. What are they telling you about this moment?
RIPLEY: Do you -- I'm not sure if we have any control room, if we have any of the sound queued up, but I would like to play a snippet of our interview
with the wife of one of the men who has been found alive in the cave.
[09:55:00]
She was describing him as a man who served in the military, who's very strong, and she said she felt really confident that he was going to be able
to make it out. Control room, let me know if we have that to toss to, otherwise I'll assume that we do not. But she basically broke down in tears
because she said she really wants to see him.
She's been -- she hasn't slept, and has barely been able to eat in nine days. Let me play you just a portion of our conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the first thing you're going to say to him when you see him?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What could I say? I'd just be so happy to see my husband again. I'm grateful and proud that people from other countries came
to help us. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- say I'm so happy. The foreigners come to help --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so excited and happy that I'll get to see my husband again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- excited --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIPLEY: So she doesn't know, nobody knows yet the identity of the first villager who has made it out, but a lot of family members are gathering
here hoping that their loved ones are either out or on the way out, everybody just kind of waiting for who's going to be coming down this road
from the top of that mountain and that cave, where five people have gone through an extraordinarily difficult ordeal for the last 10 days.
And there are still two villagers who are officially reported missing. We still don't know their status at this point.
GIOKOS: All right. Will, well, thank you so much for your incredible reporting. So, good to have you on the ground there. We'll be watching with
you so closely. We're going to a very short break. We'll catch up with you right after this. Stick with CNN. Second hour of "Connect the World" starts
soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
