
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 18, 1995                   TAG: 9501180097
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

CAVERS BEGIN DIGGING TO RESCUE TRAPPED TRIO

Rescue workers from Bath and Highland counties began digging Tuesday night for three cavers trapped inside a Burnsville cave by Friday's rain.

Five experienced cavers entered the cave, which sits on the Highland/Bath County line, on Friday to draw a map of it, state Trooper Jim Hooper said.

The rain filled the entrance with mud and trapped all five in the cave for three days. Monday, two smaller cavers managed to squirm out of another, 300-foot entrance.

"You've got to lay on your back," Hooper said of that entrance, "in about 5 feet of water and breathe from a 2-inch air pocket at the top of the hole."

Hooper said rescue teams, along with volunteer cavers from Virginia and surrounding states, plan to dig slowly to the three still trapped.

Although those trapped have some supplies, a few small cavers plan to deliver a "care package" through the entrance, Hooper said.

The two cavers who escaped Monday were not injured and plan to assist in the rescue, he said.

He estimated it will take about two days to dig the 300 feet into the earth for the remaining cavers.

by CNB