Nine people have been rescued from a Cumbrian cave system.
Cumbria Police called out The Cave Rescue Organisation at 11.50pm on Saturday after they were made aware of a group of overdue cavers at County Pot – a popular entrance to the Ease Gill System, near Kirkby Lonsdale.
The Ease Gill System is the longest and most complex cave system in Britain and has around 41 miles of passages.
Snow drifts initially made accessing the area difficult for rescue teams and a Westmorland and Furness Council highways vehicle was called out to help clear the route.
Two underground teams were then deployed to carry out a hasty search of the route while surface teams set up a control room and communication relay.
The overdue group were eventually all found cold and tired.
Rescuers then gave the group support and encouragement to make their own way safely out of the cave system.
The group were also assessed by surface teams and provided with hot food and drinks.
The Cave Rescue Organisation said the party were well equipped and had an effective call out arrangement – which ensured the alarm for their rescue was raised quickly.
Additional support from Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team and Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue team was also requested due to the large number of people in the group and the potential for a long drawn out search of the wider system.
