Cavers saved by massive joint rescue after being trapped underground during Storm Amy
Three cavers were rescued in a major joint effort after being trapped for many hours underground last week just as Storm Amy hit.
The experienced trio, who’d expected to complete their expedition well before the arrival of the storm, got stuck in Dowber Gill Passage near Grassington.
Over 100 volunteers from different search and rescue groups swung into action after the alarm was raised after they failed to surface last Thursday night.
The trio were eventually found in the early hours of Friday, towards the Dow Cave end of the underground system.
However heavy rain meant water levels underground rising quickly and they were unable to leave by the easiest exit which had become blocked, forcing them to retrace their steps, a Facebook post by Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association (UWFRA) said.
Rescuers on the surface were also enduring “appalling” conditions but were able to communicate with the team underground using a sophisticated text messaging system that can go through solid rock.
One of the exits underground got flooded, and at the beck at Providence Pot was “rising alarmingly” rescuers had to build a dam and use plastic sheeting to stop the cave getting flooded.
After nearly 19 hours, at 3pm on Friday, the first of the cavers was brought out, with the two others coming out more slowly, with “rising water levels making the traverses difficult”.
The second caver was brought to the surface at 2.30am on Saturday, with the third finally emerging “with a lot of help” at 4.30am and getting stretchered to the Hag Dyke hostel a mile from Kettlewell.
The rescue also involved The Cave Rescue Organisation, Calder Valley Search & Rescue, Derbyshire Cave Rescue Organisation, Royal Air Force Mountain Rescue Service and Swaledale Mountain Rescue team.
UWFRA praised the efforts of volunteers who “turned out in appalling conditions to rescue fellow cavers”.