Trapped caver rescued

A 62 year old man has been freed from an underground cave in the Mt Arthur area of Kahurangi National Park.

Police search and rescue were alerted at 9pm on Saturday night that the experienced caver was stuck on the far side of a squeeze in a newly discovered cave on Mt Arthur.

Fellow cavers were able to pass through food and warm clothing to the trapped caver and his wife remained with him in the cave over night.

This morning explosive experts were sent in to gently enlarge the squeeze.

The pair were freed from the cave about 2pm today and flown to Nelson for a medical check.

They were with a group of 18 cavers in the newly discovered Pillar Cave. Only four members of the party had made it through the squeeze about 80 metres underground.

The couple were cold and wet and the woman had minor rib injuries sustained earlier in their journey, but were otherwise fine.

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