Overview

• The men were located around 2:30am Friday in Dowber Gill Passage near the 60-foot Rift as rising water blocked the easier Dow Cave exit.
• Teams retraced the route toward Providence Pot, moving the men in relays, installing traverse lines and maintaining surface-to-underground communications.
• More than 100 volunteers from Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association and neighboring cave and mountain rescue teams took part in the operation.
• Staggered extractions ran from Friday afternoon into early Saturday, with reports differing on total duration and final-out time, citing roughly 30 to 42 hours.
• The men were exhausted with no major injuries reported; one was stretchered to Hag Dyke and taken by road ambulance to hospital, and teams were stood down at 7:45am Saturday.