Man with broken ankle rescued from Laurel Caverns
HOPWOOD, Pa. (KDKA) -- It took rescuers about three hours to get a man with a broken ankle out of the Laurel Caverns.
The Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group said it was called to the Laurel Caverns in Fayette County on Saturday afternoon to help an injured caver.
The caver had broken his ankle and needed to be carried out "from about as far into the cave as you can get," the rescue group wrote on Facebook. It took about an hour for members to get into the cave, where local first responders were already attending to the patient.
The rescue group said it helped lead the multi-agency effort to get him out through tight passages and several steep sections, which took about three hours.
It was overall a busy day for the Allegheny Mountain Rescue Group: they were also asked to help find two missing teenagers, both of whom were quickly located.
According to the Laurel Caverns' website, the 4-mile labyrinth is the largest sandstone cave in the world and is Pennsylvania's largest cave. The passages average 12 feet wide, and many of its ceilings are between 10 and 20 feet high, some even up to 50. It's about 50 miles south of Pittsburgh.
