File photo. Photo: 123RF
A man and a woman trapped for almost 10 hours in a labyrinthine cave network have been freed following a laborious emergency operation overnight in the New South Wales Central Tablelands.
The man, who is believed to be in his 30s, and the woman were among six people trekking through Jenolan Caves, the network of underground tunnels west of the Blue Mountains, about 7.20pm on Saturday night, when they became stuck in a tight and narrow spot.
Over several hours, NSW State Emergency Service (SES), police, Volunteer Rescue Australia and specialist ambulance crews worked to free the pair.
Craig Gibbons from Oberon SES was one of the first responders.
"We entered the cave from the other side, and needed to drill small holes and chisel some of the rock wall away so we were able to free the trapped man," Gibbons said.
He said hypothermia was among the rescuers' biggest concerns.
"He [the man] was definitely getting cold. The temperature in the cave generally sits around 10 to 12C fairly consistently.
"But he was actually in reasonably good spirits, considering the position he was in, we were able to talk to him. He was quite calm."
Intensive care paramedics made their way into the dark cave network and stayed with the pair as the rescue operation took place, giving them food and water.
"The extrication itself was extremely difficult," paramedic Adam Parker said.
"This obviously was a delicate operation and took quite some time."
After nine-and-a-half hours, the pair were freed from the cave at 4.45am on Easter Sunday.
Once outside, paramedics determined they were stable and did not need to go to hospital.
Mr Gibbons described the feeling of seeing the man and woman leave the cave after spending a night pinned in the dark.
"It was great to see them both walk away from the scene safe and well despite it taking many hours."
Over his 30 years of service with the SES, he estimates about a dozen people have been rescued from Jenolan Caves.
"This was my first rescue in the adventure caves - which are more dangerous as they're in much tighter areas that are difficult to access."
- This story was originally published by the ABC.