By Ray Sanchez, CNN

(CNN) — It was not the typical morning banter at the bustling Pancake House in the mill town of Longview, Washington.

“We’ve actually just been sick to our stomach,” said Julie Oliver, 60, taking a moment from serving breakfast to speak on the phone. “We realize how many of the ones that are still missing are our customers, and very close family, and people that we’ve known for many years.”

The talk in Longview – an industrial and shipping hub along the Columbia River in southwestern Washington, roughly 50 miles north of Portland, Oregon – on Wednesday centered on the search for nine people presumed dead a day after a chemical tank rupture at a popular paper plant.

“My son works at that mill, and he got home (Tuesday) morning off of graveyard shift and was in bed by 10 after 6 and I was on my way to work at 7:15 and saw the (emergency) vehicles and I just had the selfish thing that I said, ‘I’m so thankful my son is at home.’”

Eleven people are believed to have died when a 900,000-gallon tank containing hazardous chemicals ruptured Tuesday morning at the Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. facility in Longview. Two victims have been recovered and another eight people were injured in the blast. About 25,000 gallons of caustic material remains inside the damaged tank, officials estimated Wednesday.

“This town has a big sense of community,” said Stephen Burright, who has lived in Longview for 19 years. “There is not one person in this town that doesn’t know someone that works at the mill.”

Among those killed was Gilbert Bernal, a beloved father and grandfather, his daughter Geovana Bernal-Ferguson told CNN on Wednesday. Bernal-Ferguson’s brother and mother confirmed through photos at a hospital on Tuesday that a deceased man there was Bernal, she said. The family is still waiting for official confirmation from the coroner.

“I really can’t picture our lives without him,” Bernal-Ferguson wrote in a social media post, sharing dozens of photo memories of her father. Her favorite memories included those involving her son and Bernal’s first grandson, Jameson, she told CNN.

“My heart is shattered knowing that their time was cut short but my son will always know how incredible his grandpa was,” Bernal-Ferguson wrote in the post. “He truly was a one of a kind.”

The ruptured tank contained a mixture called white liquor, which is used in paper-making processes and can cause severe burns when it comes into contact with skin. With the blast spilling an estimated 500,000 gallons of the substance, authorities methodically continue the “extremely hazardous” recovery efforts for the nine mill employees who are presumed dead.

“We have husbands of waitresses here that work there, maybe not right where that tank is. So we’re all just really sick and very somber today,” Oliver said Wednesday.

Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. employs about 1,000 people at its pulp-and-paper mill and packaging plant, according to Washington’s Department of Ecology. It has manufactured liquid packaging board in Longview since 1953, according to the company’s LinkedIn page. Each year, Nippon says, the site produces enough paperboard to make roughly 6 billion milk cartons.

“If you’re not in a trades family or a mill family, it can be hard to understand how devastating an industrial accident like this is for a mill town like Longview,” US Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat, told reporters Wednesday, noting that

By Lianne Kolirin, CNN

(CNN) — A medieval manuscript featuring an early version of the tales of King Arthur and Merlin, which has been in private hands for about 700 years, is going under the hammer in a rare sale this summer.

Expected to fetch up to $2.7 million, the illuminated manuscript, which dates from the 13th or 14th century, is one of the earliest documents to narrate the legend of King Arthur and the search for the holy grail.

Written sometime between 1290 and 1310, the Clermont-Tonnerre Grail is the highlight of an upcoming Valuable Books and Manuscripts auction at Christie’s in July.

The tome contains text in Old French from a series known as the Lancelot-Grail cycle and has been valued at between £1.5 million ($2 million) and £2 million ($2.7 million).

Written on vellum and decorated with gold leaf, the manuscript features 126 “rich illustrations” of the legend that has spawned countless books, films and academic debates, according to Eugenio Donadoni, director of medieval and renaissance manuscripts at Christie’s.

Among the images are some depicting Merlin the magician shape-shifting into different forms and some of the tales of King Arthur and his knights.

It has never been publicly exhibited nor studied in any great detail, according to the auction house.

Donadoni told CNN in an email that it is a “virtually unknown” manuscript that is likely to garner much interest when it comes up for sale.

“This is a rediscovered manuscript of one the greatest of all medieval romances: the story of the Holy Grail, Merlin and the young King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, texts fundamental to Western culture,” he said, adding that there are only three such manuscripts in private hands and this is the earliest.

The auction house has detailed provenance for the manuscript showing a long line of previous owners, Donadoni said.

He added that previous owners included a 15th century knight, a jouster, an “obsessive medievalist” and a 20th century industrialist called Jean Lebaudy who was awarded two “croix de guerre” for his “heroic deeds in both World Wars.”

While the seller of the manuscript has not been identified, Donadoni told CNN that it comes from a “long-standing private collection.”

“There are so many appealing angles to this manuscript: historical, art-historical, textual and cultural,” he said. “There’s the Christian element – the Quest for the Holy Grail; the chivalric element: the adventures, the quests, the jousts, the battles.”

The sale is likely to attract many potential bidders, according to Donadoni.

“It should interest institutions because it’s a virtually unknown manuscript of one of the greatest medieval romances, but it could interest private buyers for the same reasons that it appealed to the long line of owners who have treasured it over the course of the past 700 years.”

He added: “It has been a privilege to have been able to work on a manuscript of this rarity and calibre: the stories are universal and it has so much still to offer in terms of research and enjoyment. As Merlin himself prophesies in the text itself: ‘And the story will forever be told and gladly heard for as long as the world lasts’.”

The sale will take place at Christie’s in London on July 8.

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By Laura Sharman, Kocha Olarn, June Jeong, Angie Puranasamriddhi, CNN

Hope has returned for the five trapped men deep inside a flooded Laos cave. For more than a week, they huddled together above the murky waters in the pitch black, more than 260 meters from the cave’s entrance, wondering if anyone would ever find them.

On Wednesday, after days of hunger, salvation finally came as rescuers emerged from the darkness, illuminating the narrow rocky cavern with their headlamps.

“There are people here to help now,” said Norased Palasing, a Thai specialist cave diver and one of the multi-national rescue team involved in what has become a heart-stopping race against time.

“The important thing is that you’re alive. It’s okay, it’s okay, you’ve done really well. Don’t cry.”

One of the trapped men, who gave his name as Ing, said into the rescuers’ camera: “Don’t worry, Mom. The rescue team has reached us now. We’re safe. I miss Mom and Dad so much. We’ll probably get out tomorrow or the day after.”

Celebrations extended above ground, where desperate loved ones and the rescuers rejoiced at their survival following a perilous search.

Finnish diver Mikko Paasi, who is part of the operation, toasted the team’s “amazing work” in a post on Instagram.

But he cautioned that a high-stakes extraction lies ahead, “and it ain’t going to be easy.”

Lao officials say the five ventured into the cave last Wednesday, drawn by the promise of gold deposits, a speculative pursuit that has surged in recent years, according to research by US think tank the Stimson Center.

A torrential downpour caused flash flooding inside the cave system and sealed the men’s exit. Two others are thought to have entered the cave earlier, unconnected to the five, and are still missing.

Above ground, a Laos-led rescue operation quickly took shape. After news of the men’s disappearance spread, an A-Team of internationally renowned cave divers coalesced in the landlocked Southeast Asian country, brought together by the Lao People’s Volunteer Association, according to its president, Bounkham Luanglath.

It included Kengkad Bongkawong, from neighboring Thailand, and Paasi from Finland. This was something of a reunion for the daring divers: eight years ago, both played a key role in the dramatic Thai cave rescue that ultimately saved 12 boys and their soccer coach.

Now, in the hot and humid Laotian early summer, their team trekked four kilometers through dense jungle in search of the missing men, in an area about 55 kilometers (35 miles) east of the lush, scenic backpacker hotspot of Vang Vieng.

Tight spaces and noxious gas

One piece of good news for the team is that, according to the state-run Lao News Agency, the men are on an elevated ledge that “benefits from continuous airflow.”

Another is that – apart from severe hunger – the men appear mostly well.

But other than that, myriad challenges await the rescuers as they try to retrieve the men from the cave, whose entrance plunges downwards at a 45-degree gradient.

The length of rope used by rescuers to find the group indicates that they are around 260 meters deep, Kengkad said.

“It’s so narrow that you have to tilt sideways, duck low, and crawl flat on your stomach to get through,” he added.

To get inside, his team had navigated muddy passageways and underground streams, using cables to guide the way – sometimes with only their heads and shoulders above water, at other points removing their equipment to squeeze through the cracks.

Video footage captured the team scaling shafts by rope and crawling through tunnels at times narrowing to jus

By Oscar Holland, CNN

(CNN) — When photographer Greg Brennan spotted Kate Moss in a fur coat at the bottom of a fire exit, cigarette in hand, he knew he’d stumbled across something special. The year was 2007, and what he didn’t realize is that one of the resulting photos — not even his favorite from the night — would become an emblem of the supermodel’s “party era” and the best-known image of his near-four-decade career.

The mid-aughts photo’s enduring appeal is, partly, its mundanity. In that quiet, unguarded moment, Moss was just like any other 30-something having a night out on the town. And yet she is perhaps the only person who could appear that put-together while being ambushed in a stairwell. “It’s kind of a mixture between a ballerina and Janice Joplin,” Brennan said in a video call from his home in London. “It’s very rock ‘n’ roll.”

Moss had developed a reputation for enjoying a night out during the “heroin chic” party girl era of the ’90s, as the press did its best (or, perhaps, worst?) to document her every move.

Not all was as it seemed, though. For one thing, Brennan believes Moss was completely sober when he took the shot. “I read all sorts of nonsense,” added the now-53-year-old photographer, saying that his most famous image is also among the most misunderstood. “I read that she tripped on her dress, that she fell down the stairs, that it was 4 a.m. — none of that was accurate. None.”

Brennan’s new book, “The Big Shot,” intends to set the record straight. It also details the combination of seasoned experience and blind luck that led the British photographer to the back door of a London theater on the model’s 33rd birthday. (Moss’ representatives, meanwhile, did not respond to CNN’s request for her her own version of events.)

In 2007, Moss was at the height of her powers. It was the year Time magazine named her as one of the 100 most influential people and Forbes listed her as the world’s second highest-earning model (behind only Gisele Bündchen). Wedding rumors swirled around her relationship with Babyshambles frontman, Pete Doherty. Against a backdrop of intense tabloid attention, Brennan was assigned to The Dorchester hotel in London to photograph the model’s birthday party, which had become “a kind of annual media event,” he said.

Soon after Brennan’s arrival, word spread among the waiting press that Moss and Doherty were still over a mile away at Donmar Warehouse, a theater in London’s West End. He rushed across town only to find a mob of photographers and curious onlookers clogging the entrance.

Then, a stroke of luck — or bad luck, as it seemed at the time: The batteries of Brennan’s flash unit were nearly flat. Returning to his car a few streets away, he remembered the theater had a fire escape that doubled as a back door. (Here, experience paid off: In the late 1990s, he had captured Nicole Kidman leaving the building via the very same exit.)

The photographer made a quick detour, “just to check,” he recalled. “She was just sitting there on the stairs, smoking. I walked past the door, took one look and knew I had a few seconds, if that, to act.”

Poking his camera through the ajar door, Brennan fired off a series of 10 images. As the shutter clicked, he heard a vehicle pull up outside. It was only then that he realized what was happening: The couple had sent another car to the front entrance as a decoy while they snuck out the back. Moss and Dohert

Por Kocha Olarn, Sophie Tanno, Chris Lau, Helen Regan, CNN

Buzos especializados en cuevas, que se apresuran a rescatar a un grupo de aldeanos atrapados en una cueva inundada en una zona remota de Laos, se muestran cautelosamente optimistas de que pronto podrán comenzar a sacar a los hombres atrapados.

Cinco de los siete aldeanos desaparecidos fueron localizados el miércoles en una cámara subterránea en Xaisomboun, una provincia central de este país del sudeste asiático sin salida al mar, una semana después de que quedaran atrapados cuando las fuertes lluvias provocaron inundaciones repentinas que les bloquearon la salida.

Un grupo de rescate laosiano, Rescue Volunteer for People, informó que cinco de los hombres encontrados estaban “vivos y a salvo”. Los rescatistas creen que dos hombres siguen desaparecidos en algún lugar dentro del complejo de cuevas.

Un video difundido por el grupo de rescate captó el momento en que los buzos llegaron hasta los aldeanos atrapados tras emerger del agua.

En las imágenes se puede ver a los hombres sentados en una cornisa rocosa rodeada por el agua de la inundación y con linternas frontales.

En escenas publicadas en las redes sociales, se puede ver a los equipos de rescate trabajando en la superficie saltando de alegría, abrazándose y llorando al enterarse de que cinco personas habían sido encontradas con vida.

Por ahora, permanecen atrapados en una caverna subterránea, mientras los rescatistas continúan la búsqueda de las dos personas restantes y, simultáneamente, elaboran un plan para extraer a los supervivientes.

La angustiosa misión para rescatar a los hombres atrapados recuerda el dramático rescate de jóvenes futbolistas en la vecina Tailandia en 2018. Algunos de los miembros internacionales de la misión actual son veteranos de aquella operación.

“Cinco personas han sido encontradas con vida y están a salvo. Ya han recibido atención médica básica y alimentos blandos siguiendo las recomendaciones de los médicos”, escribió el buzo de rescate tailandés Kengkad Bongkawong en Facebook a las 23:30 hora local.

“Si se logra facilitar el acceso, los rescatistas creen que los supervivientes tienen la fuerza física suficiente para salir por sí mismos con la ayuda de los equipos”, agregó.

El buzo finlandés Mikko Paasi, que forma parte de la operación de rescate, expresó su alegría por haber localizado a cinco de las personas atrapadas. “La tarea hasta ahora ha sido de todo menos fácil y todos los implicados han hecho un trabajo increíble”, escribió en Instagram.

Sin embargo, añadió que fue “solo un breve alivio”, ya que los supervivientes siguen atrapados en la caverna. “Todos están sanos y de buen ánimo, pero la extracción aún está por delante y no va a ser fácil”, afirmó.

En un video grabado por Paasi se ve a los aldeanos siendo interrogados sobre sus nombres y si padecían alguna enfermedad. Respondieron que no estaban enfermos, pero que se sentían débiles y con mucha hambre.

Es probable que la extracción resulte complicada.

Algunas zonas del túnel, completamente a oscuras y parcialmente inundado, parecen muy estrechas, con un ancho de aproximadamente 58 centímetros. Uno de los rescatistas contó que en un momento dado se vio obligado a quitarse el equipo para poder pasar a duras penas y llegar a la siguiente zona de la cueva.

Según Kengkad, los aldeanos, que al parecer son todos hombres, entraron en la cueva el miércoles pasado en busca de oro, pero las fuertes lluvias provocaron inundaciones repentinas que bloquearon la salida.

La peligrosa operación de rescate se puso en marcha en medio del deterioro de las condiciones y de retrasos imprevistos, entre los que se incluyen el hallazgo por parte de los rescatistas de gas tóxico de sulfuro de hidrógeno y problemas para