College students, tour guides escape Kentucky cave through neck-deep water
An afternoon thunderstorm caused flash flooding in Horse Cave, Kentucky, on Thursday, trapping 19 people inside a cave.
On Thursday morning, students from a Clemson University geology course embarked on a guided tour of the Hidden River Cave, which only has one way in and one way out. They had no cellphone service, and after heavy rains caused water to rush into the cave, two police officers entered to help get the group out; they also became stranded.
The group was caught in an area known as The Attic, which has a higher ceiling, Kentucky State Trooper B.J. Eaton said in a statement. As the water continued to rise, they decided it was time to attempt an escape. "When they came out of the cave, they were neck-deep in water," Hart County Emergency Management Director Kerry McDaniel tells The Associated Press. "The waters were continuing to rise under the flash flood. They saw an opportunity to exit the cave, so they took the chance." The students, four tour guides, and two police officers were all checked for hypothermia, and all declined additional medical attention. "We looked at this from the beginning and hoped it was a search rather than a recovery operation," McDaniel said.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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