Overview
- The trio were reported overdue on Thursday night and located around 2:30 a.m. Friday near the Dow Cave end of the Dowber Gill system.
- Extractions were staggered: the first caver surfaced about 3:30 p.m. Friday, the second at 2:30 a.m. Saturday, and the third around 4:30 a.m. before being stretchered to Hag Dyke for hospital assessment.
- More than 100 volunteers from UWFRA and neighboring cave and mountain rescue teams conducted a relay-style operation with traverse lines and 4x4 support.
- Rescuers built a plastic-sheet dam to divert a rising beck at the entrance and maintained contact with underground teams via a rock-through text messaging system.
- Accounts vary on the ordeal’s length, with reports citing roughly 30, 36 or 42 hours as Storm Amy’s rainfall arrived earlier and heavier than expected.