Group escapes Kentucky cave through neck-deep water
By CLAIRE GALOFARO and BRUCE SCHREINER, Associated Press
May 26, 2016 8:23 PM CDT
Shrink
Officials stand on the scene after over a dozen people who exploring
Hidden River Cave were trapped by rising water Thursday, May 26, 2016,
in Horse Cave, Ky. Horse Cave Fire Chief Donnie Parker said the rising
water was caused by heavy rains in the area Thursday afternoon. (Austin
Anthony/Daily News... (Associated Press)
View 10 more images
HORSE CAVE, Ky. (AP) — Flash flooding threatened to trap a group of
college students inside a Kentucky cave Thursday, but they navigated
through neck-deep water to safety, authorities said.
The 19 people who escaped had to clutch onto a rope to handle the swift
currents of floodwaters near the entrance of Hidden River Cave.
The group that spent more than six hours inside the cave included
Clemson University students on a field trip, four tour guides and two
police officers who got trapped when they tried to rescue the group,
Kentucky State Police Trooper B.J. Eaton said.
There was no communication between the stranded cavers and the more than
150 emergency personnel at the scene. Authorities didn't know exactly
where the missing cavers were underground, and the only light the group
had came from headlamps they wore.
The cavers, accompanied by a couple of experienced guides, were unaware
of the rising waters threatening to block the cave's entrance. Heavy
rains hit the area hours after the group ventured inside, said David
Foster, executive director of the American Cave Museum at Horse Cave.
The storm hit earlier than expected, so Foster and a couple of others
decided to find the group and bring them back out, he said.
"It was pretty scary," he said in an interview. "We felt like if we
waited for them to just come out on their own, the flood might be too
intense and they might be trapped there."
Foster said his rescue team ventured about a mile into the cave, where
they found the group in a "high and dry" area.
With only one way in and out of the cave, they needed to reach the group
before a wall of water might shut off the escape route.
"The whole time we're back there in the cave, we're thinking, 'Gosh, I
hope the water hasn't closed us off,'" Foster said. "That's the scary
thought as you're going deeper into the cave."
The final stretch was the most precarious, when they had to wade and
swim through high water, Foster said.
At one point, a canyon filled with water, and the group used an escape
route built for such emergencies, he said.
"That was a lifesaver today," he said.
They held onto the rope during the final stretch to make their way
through the water.
"When they came out of the cave, they were neck-deep in water," Hart
County Emergency Management Director Kerry McDaniel said.
The cave is in south-central Kentucky's karst region, where many of
state's longest and deepest caves run underground.
The Clemson students had planned a five-hour trip exploring the cave's
geology when torrential rains hit the region after they entered,
McDaniel said. The group went into the cave about 10 a.m. CDT Thursday
and emerged about 4:30 p.m. They were checked for hypothermia but
declined further medical attention, McDaniel said.
Four other people were able to escape earlier, Horse Cave Fire Chief
Donnie Parker said. He didn't have details about how they got out.
Two Horse Cave police officers who became trapped had entered the cave
about 3 p.m. in an effort to make contact with the stranded group,
authorities said. They were met by the four people who had managed to
escape.
"We looked at this from the beginning and hoped it was a search rather
than a recovery operation," McDaniel said.
The attraction's website offers to take visitors through one of
Kentucky's largest caves and says two subterranean rivers flow more than
100 feet below ground. In addition to public guided tours and longer
adventure tours, a zip line and rappelling are also offered.
___
Schreiner reported from Louisville, Kentucky. Beth Campbell in
Louisville contributed to this report.
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