Trapped underground: My 54-hour cave rescue
After a caver sustained severe injuries hundreds of metres underground, 300 volunteers dropped what they were doing and went to his rescue.
For George Linnane, an experienced caver from England, being underground is his happy place, somewhere he can feel calm away from the chaos of daily life. But when he and two friends set out for a routine trip in the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave system in Wales one Saturday lunchtime in November 2021, they couldn't know it would turn into a nightmare.
After a stone bridge gave way underneath him, George fell ten metres onto solid rock and couldn't move. He suffered a broken leg, shattered jaw, a punctured lung and spleen and was drifting in and out of consciousness. When news of his predicament got out, 300 extraordinary volunteers from around the UK mobilised and came to his rescue. Thanks to the quick thinking and skill of his friends and the hundreds of fellow cavers who rushed to his aid, George counts himself very lucky to be alive. His remarkable true story became the longest cave rescue in UK history, taking a mammoth 54 hours to bring him back to the surface.
Presenter: Asya Fouks
Producer: Edgar Maddicott
Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707
(Photo: George Linnane stands backlit in a dark cave in his helmet astride a rushing underground stream. Credit: Mark Burkey)
Last on
More episodes
Broadcasts
- Thu 30 Oct 202512:06GMTBBC World Service
- Thu 30 Oct 202518:06GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Thu 30 Oct 202523:06GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Fri 31 Oct 202503:06GMTBBC World Service
Contact Outlook
Info on how we might use your contribution on air
Podcast: Lives Less Ordinary
Step into someone else’s life and expect the unexpected
