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BBC-NEWS, 16/03/08.***Two trapped cavers reach surface

There were 15 people on the rescue team trying to help the men
Two cavers cut-off by flood water have made it to the surface after more than 30 hours underground.
They were trapped in the Dan-yr-Ogof caves in the Swansea Valley but were in a dry area and had access to food, drink and warm clothing.
Gary Mitchell, of the West Brecon Cave Rescue team, said the rescued men "have come out in really good spirits".
The men, in their 30s from south Wales and Gloucestershire, had been trapped in the cave complex since Saturday.
Mr Mitchell said: "We were obviously waiting for the water levels to drop significantly enough to enable them to effectively rescue themselves but with our assistance.
"The guys have come out in really good spirits which is great, so it was a fantastic team effort."
The cavers were in a dry area two miles from the end of the National Showcaves Centre for Wales.
A team of about 15, including medical experts, from the West Brecon Cave Rescue team were at the scene of the caves in the Brecon Beacons.
The men were in an area of a cave that is known to flood occasionally but had access to a rescue cache of food, warm clothing, a stove and candles kept in the caves.
The cave complex at Dan-yr-Ogof, in the upper Swansea Valley, stretches for more than 10 miles underneath the hills.

***WELLINGTON, New Zealand: A rescue team sought to help a caver Sunday who
broke his leg and got trapped under a rock slide deep underground while
climbing in New Zealand, police said.
The Caver suffered head injuries and his leg was smashed by falling rocks
Saturday in the Middle Earth cave system on Takaka Hill near Nelson on South
Island, rescue co-ordinator Sergeant Mike Fitzsimmons said.
According to two of the four-man caving team, who spent six hours climbing
back to the surface to raise the alarm, he is stranded about 3 kilometers
(1.8 miles) from the entrance of the cave, Fitzsimmons said. The fourth
caver stayed with the injured caver, he said.
A rescue team of five, including a doctor, went underground Sunday morning
to try to help the caver, who is aged about 40, Fitzsimmons said.
About 40 cave from around the country were to join the rescue ? an effort
expected to take up to three days.
Rescuers plan to haul the injured climber out on a stretcher but it would be
a slow, difficult task along narrow passages with vertical lifts, he said.
Nelson is 150 kilometers (90 miles) south of the capital, Wellington.

info from Associated Press
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***Six cave explorers trapped underground
January 08 2008 at 01:34AM
Deservilliers, France - French authorities were growing increasingly worried on Monday over the fate of six speleologists trapped in a cave for the past 48 hours in eastern France.
The six cave explorers, aged between 29 and 45, entered the Biefs Bousset cave in the Doubs region bordering Switzerland on Saturday and were apparently trapped by rising waters from heavy rain.
"We must not be pessimistic but it is worrying," said regional prefect Jacques Barthelemy.
"The more time goes by, the more worrying the situation becomes, because it is one of the biggest caves in France."
Twenty-five rescuers and about 40 firefighters were on site Monday to try to locate the six men, who were all considered experienced speleologists.
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****LATEST NEWS: from 26/january/08. for one week will be held joint expedition with about 18 Slovak and Bulgaria cavers and we will focus on two biggest caves in Kosova, for digital mapping and some new explorations.

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****LATEST YAHOO NEWS, 28/12/07.: A man and woman have been found dead in a cave after being trapped by rising water.

The bodies of a 33-year-old man from Darlington and a 28-year-old woman from West Yorkshire were discovered by rescuers early on Friday morning.
They were found in the Alum Pot cave in Selside, near Horton in Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire.
Rescue teams searched through the night after a woman reported her husband missing.
Phil Haigh from the Cave Rescue Organisation said the team of 20 rescuers gathered just after midnight and found the bodies in the cave at 3.20am.
"The cave system at Alum Pot contains stream passages and it looks as though the pair were trapped by rising water," he said. "It's quite tragic."
But Mr Haigh said the area was a popular place for cavers to visit and it was not previously thought to be dangerous.
"This sort of a system is one that is used by lots of groups throughout the year," he said.
"It's a really good introductory caving trip."
Mr Haigh said there were many reasons why the water could have risen unexpectedly and it was not necessarily due to heavy rain.

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****LATEST NEWS: Flood woman sees fiance swept away-Thailand cave death

A British woman has told how she saw her fiance being swept to his death by a flash flood in a cave in Thailand.

John Cullen, 24, was one of eight people killed when water washed away a party of tourists as they explored the cave in the Khao Sok national park in the south of the country on Saturday.
His partner, Helena Carroll, 21, of Solihull, West Midlands, survived by clinging to a ledge for 16 hours.
She said: "One minute I was in what I thought was the most beautiful place in the world. The next thing there is death all around me."
The flood was caused by heavy rainfall that sent the water surging through the cave.
The couple tried to clamber to safety after two guides, a family of four and a 10-year-old boy were swept away.
She said: "As we climbed I slipped but John grabbed me. We kept climbing higher and found a ledge. We were all alone in the dark. We could not see anything as all the torches had gone.
"John said 'If we stay here, we're going to die'. I said we should stay. But he thought the current would take him out, then he could bring help to rescue me. He slipped into the water and that's the last I ever saw of him."
As she waited alone in the dark, all she could see were insects and all she could hear was the rumbling of the water.
"I sat there shivering, with no idea what the time was. Then I saw a torch light and I started shouting 'Help, help, I'm over here'."

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Latest News-26/06/07. - We will be hosting a group of 14 speleologists from Chech and Slovak Republic, from 07/07/07. until 14/07/07. The expedition will be focused on mapping of some caves, but also exploring cave of Radavc and Gryka e Madhe.

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****Latest news-13/06/07. - Our plans for this summer expeditions are to explore caves near the "Burimi i Drinit te Bardhe Waterfall", then a new cave near the village of Vrelle-west Kosova, a new cave in the Malisheva region and Mirusha Waterfalls Canyon-central Kosova.
The expedition will take place during the august period, and we welcome everybody who will like to join us. You can get in touch via page-contact us.
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****LATEST NEWS-18/05/07.- On 04/05/07. at the Gimnasium "Bedri Pejani"-Peje, we held a lecture about speleology (check the photo-gallery), caves and their protection with the students of classes 10 and 11.
The lecture was very interesting for students, there was shown also a DVD about caving and some photo-slides from the caves of Kosova. We are planning to expand the lecture to the other towns of Kosova, but we are very limited on finances.

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****LATEST NEWS-17/03/2007.- SURVEY RESULTS FROM THE FEBRUARY/2007 EXPEDITION FOR DIGITAL MAPPING IN "GRYKA E MADHE" CAVE: TOTAL LENGTH OF SURVEY IS 5281.51 METRES, VERTICAL RANGE 295.10 M.(from 848 at 1015.14m to 734 at 720.04 m)
NORTH-SOUTH RANGE: 564.59 M (from 732 at 0.00 m to435 at -564.59 m).
EAST-WEST RANGE: 684.81 m(from 733 at 17.74 m to 435 at -667.08 m).
Total surveyed in February/2007: 2784 m by Sllovak-expedition, and prepared by Martin Sluka.
THANK YOU TO ALL PARTICIPANTS FOR THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS...
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***LATEST NEWS-10/01/2007. - FROM FEBRUARY/02 FOR ONE WEEK WE WILL BE HOSTING A LARGE EXPEDITION OF ABOUT 15 CAVERS FROM SLOVAKIA, TO CONTINUE THE EXPLORATIONS IN THE "GRYKA E MADHE"-CAVE AND ALSO TO PUT SOME MORE KILOMETRES IN THE DIGITAL MAP...WE WILL KEEP YOU INFORMED ABOUT THE RESULTS...
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***01/09/2006.- Reconnaissance expedition to the North of Albania took place from 25/08/06 until 30/08/06. There is a very interesting terrain for caving, but also for climbing and mountaineering. Stunning scenery all around the remote villages, deep into the high-mountain valleys, were life is still much the same as it was hundred years ago. We`ve been there with mountaineering association "Gjeravica" from Peja-Kosova, with the invitation from Alpine Federation of Albania. We are planning to go back there for speleo-research probably next year some time(dependant from our financial situation), and we will keep you posted on this pages.

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***LATEST NEWS-25/08/2006.- Very succesfull joint expedition with caving club SPILJAR from Split-Croatia, and very soon we are going to publish all the results and new caves discovered on this pages...
Thank you to all participants for continous work and support, especially those from SPILJAR: TONCI, SLADJANA, SANJA, GRGA, MIKI AND FRANE...
and special thanks to the people from the villages of Vrella and Uqe, from the small town of Burim, than to the people in the local municipalities of Peja and Burim.

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*** LATEST NEWS: The Croatian-Kosovan ekspedition will be held from 13-23/august/2006. Cavers from town of Split, caving club Spiljar will visit Kosova, and will be focused on exploring
new caves, but also will be a training and seminars for local cavers. For more info get in touch via our page: contact us...

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*** During February-2006, together with a group of Slovak and Chech cavers we have undergone a digital survey and mapping of "Gryka e Madhe" cave, and very soon we will publish the results from this joint expeditions. Many thanks to all of you in Sllovakia and Chech Republic, for your continuous help.

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