Challenging, difficult rescue required to pull Vancouver woman from B.C. cave

PENTICTON, B.C. – A Vancouver woman is recovering in hospital in Kelowna, B.C., after falling more than a dozen metres into a cave in the south Okanagan

Penticton and District Search and Rescue spokesman Randy Brown says the 50-year-old victim suffered severe head and upper body injuries in the Monday afternoon fall.

He says the rescue took seven hours to complete and involved crews from his organization, the RCMP, Penticton firefighters and members of the Alberta/British Columbia Cave Rescue Service.

Brown describes the rescue as complex with “lots of logistics and moving parts,” but says the teamwork was seamless.

Cave rescue team co-ordinator Doug Munroe says all cave events are challenge but things get even more complicated when an injured person is added with difficulties that include confined spaces, low visibility and unstable rock.

He estimates up to 50 personnel from across the province took part in the rescue. (CKFR)