A man has been rescued this weekend by a team of dedicated volunteers, after he became stuck within a cave in Co Fermanagh on Saturday night.
The Irish Cave Rescue Organisation (ICRO) shared that they “worked late into the night to free” the man, aged in his 20s.
He had reportedly become too tired to progress while he was on the return leg of a planned caving trip, in a system on the Marlbank, which is located on the north side of Cuilcagh Mountain.
After the alert was raised at 8.55pm, five local ICRO volunteers arrived to the scene at about 9.15pm, with volunteers put on alert across Ireland at 10.45pm.
“ICRO reached the man quickly and assessed his condition,” a spokesperson for the team said.
Volunteers spent until 4am helping to free the man (Credit: ICRO)
“A “hot point” was established underground where he was warmed and fed. Meanwhile, rock breaking and rescue rigging teams engineered a bypass to a constricted section of passage near the entrance. This allowed the man to be hauled up via the new route to the surface.
“The caver was brought safely to the surface and the team was stood down at 04.00 on Sunday morning. No injuries were reported.
“ICRO would like to thank all of its volunteers for travelling through the night and assisting with this successful outcome.”
The rescued man was freed at around 3.15am, with more than 20 ICRO volunteers from across the island of Ireland attending the scene for assistance, including team members from Larne, Belfast, Dublin and Co Clare.
ICRO chair Stephen McCullagh said it was a “very successful rescue”.
“We were alerted around 8.30pm last night and a number of local wardens – who’re highly experienced rescue people – made their way up to the cave,” he added.
“It became clear that we had to extend the call out to the wider ICRO group.
“With more volunteers, we were able to engineer an easier route out of the cave, and the caver was then hauled vertically to the surface with ropes.”