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Helpers stand at the entrance to the cave near Penwyllt in Wales
Photo: Ben Birchall / ZUMA Press / IMAGO
The emergency services and volunteers cheered and applauded when the rescue operation was successful and the man was freed from the cave: In Wales, after a fall, he was trapped for more than two days in the 62 kilometer long cave system Ogof Ffynnon Ddu near the village of Penwyllt.
More than 250 volunteers from all over Great Britain, together with the emergency services, managed to transport the injured through technically demanding terrain to the surface.
In the fall, the man is said to have sustained several non-life-threatening injuries, including his jaw, leg and spine.
"Given how long he's been in the cave ... he's doing really well," said an emergency services spokesman, Gary Evans.
"The cave-goer was very unlucky here," said a spokesman for the rescue workers.
The man was experienced and fit.
"He just set his foot in the wrong place."
The Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave system, where the man died, is one of the largest in Great Britain.
According to the BBC, it was the longest cave rescue operation in Wales to date.
kha / dpa
