Post by L Roebuck on Feb 28, 2006 18:43:17 GMT -5
Potholer is rescued after cave ordeal
Brian Dooks
A WOMAN potholer was airlifted to hospital after becoming trapped in a cave 60ft underground at the weekend.
The alarm was raised at Bar Pot – part of the extensive Gaping Gill system – near Clapham in the Yorkshire Dales, just after 9.30pm on Sunday.
North Yorkshire Police were told that a 20-year-old woman, one of a party of seven from York University Cave and Potholing Club, was having difficulty reaching the surface after becoming exhausted.
A 21-strong team from the Cave Rescue Organisation , based at Clapham, was sent to the scene, which is south of the entrance to the 360ft-deep Gaping Gill chamber beneath the slopes of Ingleborough.
Nine members of the rescue team went underground and were able to lift the woman to the surface in a climbing harness.
A search-and-rescue helicopter was called to airlift the woman to hospital for treatment. An RAF Sea King made the 120-mile journey from RAF Kinloss in Scotland to take the potholer, who was exhausted and suffering from hypothermia, to Lancaster Royal Infirmary where she was continuing to recover yesterday.
Cave Rescue Organisation spokesman Steve Hirst said the woman was in difficulties at the bottom of a 60ft vertical pitch.
He said: "The party had been on quite a long trip late in the day and I think she may have under-estimated the physical nature of what was involved."
Mr Hirst said the woman had been hanging in her harness for some time before rescuers reached the scene.
Mr Hirst said: "She was hypothermic. The reason we asked for the Sea King was that we were not entirely happy that we fully understood her condition."
In a separate incident the Scarborough and District Search and Rescue Team was involved in a call-out after a resident of Lockton, north of Pickering, reported hearing cries for help early on Sunday.
Over 20 members and a North Yorkshire Police dog handler carried out a daylight search around the Lockton and Levisham area.
The team stood down after the search confirmed it was a false alarm.
Team leader, Andrew Priestley, said: "We were concerned somebody could be injured and at risk from hypothermia after being outside overnight."
28 February 2006
www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1369002
Brian Dooks
A WOMAN potholer was airlifted to hospital after becoming trapped in a cave 60ft underground at the weekend.
The alarm was raised at Bar Pot – part of the extensive Gaping Gill system – near Clapham in the Yorkshire Dales, just after 9.30pm on Sunday.
North Yorkshire Police were told that a 20-year-old woman, one of a party of seven from York University Cave and Potholing Club, was having difficulty reaching the surface after becoming exhausted.
A 21-strong team from the Cave Rescue Organisation , based at Clapham, was sent to the scene, which is south of the entrance to the 360ft-deep Gaping Gill chamber beneath the slopes of Ingleborough.
Nine members of the rescue team went underground and were able to lift the woman to the surface in a climbing harness.
A search-and-rescue helicopter was called to airlift the woman to hospital for treatment. An RAF Sea King made the 120-mile journey from RAF Kinloss in Scotland to take the potholer, who was exhausted and suffering from hypothermia, to Lancaster Royal Infirmary where she was continuing to recover yesterday.
Cave Rescue Organisation spokesman Steve Hirst said the woman was in difficulties at the bottom of a 60ft vertical pitch.
He said: "The party had been on quite a long trip late in the day and I think she may have under-estimated the physical nature of what was involved."
Mr Hirst said the woman had been hanging in her harness for some time before rescuers reached the scene.
Mr Hirst said: "She was hypothermic. The reason we asked for the Sea King was that we were not entirely happy that we fully understood her condition."
In a separate incident the Scarborough and District Search and Rescue Team was involved in a call-out after a resident of Lockton, north of Pickering, reported hearing cries for help early on Sunday.
Over 20 members and a North Yorkshire Police dog handler carried out a daylight search around the Lockton and Levisham area.
The team stood down after the search confirmed it was a false alarm.
Team leader, Andrew Priestley, said: "We were concerned somebody could be injured and at risk from hypothermia after being outside overnight."
28 February 2006
www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1369002