Tonight, a 25-year old Canadian woman was rescued from a very deep cave on the Takaka Hill in Nelson. She and 5 other people entered the cave this morning. The cave is 176m deep and cavers need to be very experienced. They abseil down on ropes. However, she fell about 20m injuring her shoulder and hand and was unable to climb up again or walk out. The exit is through a stream at the bottom.
Two of her friends were able to exit the cave and call for help. A team of specialist rescuers and a doctor were flown to the area by the Wellington Rescue Helicopter. She was winched up to the surface tonight on a stretcher, about 9 hours later. Then she taken to Nelson hospital. Her injuries are not life-threatening.
This cave, Harwoods Hole, is the deepest in New Zealand. It was first explored in 1959. It is a limestone cave in the Abel Tasman National Park. Cavers are told to allow at least 7 hours to descend and explore this cave and another 2 hours to walk out through a very cold stream. The cave is cold, about 6 to 8 degrees. It is also wet.
It has been the scene of many rescues in the past. It was also used for some scenes in the Lord of the Rings movies.
Vocabulary
• caver (n) – a person who enjoys exploring caves (also called a speleologist)
• abseil (v) – descend (go down) by a rope
• stream (n) – small river
• winched (v) – using pulleys to wind the rope up
• stretcher (n) – temporary bed
• surface (n) – the top
• life-threatening (adj) – she will probably not die from this
• limestone (n, adj) – rock made up of calcium carbonate (CaCO3)