STANDARD
Slovenian rescuers have evacuated five people that have been trapped deep inside a flooded underground cave since Saturday.
All are safe and well, the head of the rescue mission said on Monday.
Maks Merela, who leads the Cave Search and Rescue Unit, said the five were transported by boat through some sections of the 8.2km network of underground lakes and walked through others.
“They are now in a warm place, everybody is okay, all of them are positive and the rescue mission was successfully competed,” Mr Merela told Reuters.
The five, a family of three adults and two guides, had taken shelter more than 2km from the entrance to the Krizna Jama cave in southwestern Slovenia, which can only be visited by boat.
Over the past two days, divers managed to take them food, water, medicines and a heated tent, but the high water level had made their evacuation impossible.
Ms Merela said that this was the first time people had been trapped in Krizna Jama, a chain of lakes with emerald green water, the fourth largest known cave ecosystem in the world in terms of biodiversity
