Youth party’s flood cave rescue

A group of teenagers and adults from Rochdale and Oldham were rescued after being trapped in a cave by rising water for five hours.

The eight youngsters aged between 16 and 19, and three adults were stuck until water levels dropped sufficiently to allow members of the Cave Rescue Organisation to enter and bring them to safety.

The group were on a Prince’s Trust outing to the Lower Long Churn cave, at Selside in the Ingleton area, near Skipton, when they became trapped just before 1.00pm on Wednesday (10 August) after heavy rain.

They had to remain in the cave until about 6.00pm when they could be safely reached.

Family members had faced an anxious wait near-by. But after precautionary medical checks were carried out by paramedics, all those involved were declared fit and well.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “With assistance from North Yorkshire County Council, a respite centre was set up at Settle College where concerned family members gathered as they waited for the water levels to reduce before the rescue effort could be carried out.”

A police source said: “They are all fine. It’s actually fairly common but we have had a couple of fatalities in the past. If people sit it out the water lessens and there were some good experienced people in the group who were able to sit it out until the rescue team was able to get to them.”