Hart County EMA director Kerry McDaniel told WAVE 3 News the people inside the cave – which is as deep as four miles in some places – were with experienced guides who had an action plan for handling the rising water, according to McDaniel.
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They were eventually rescued but a police officer who went in to help was unaccounted for.
The 19 people who escaped had to clutch onto a rope to handle the swift currents of floodwaters near the entrance of Hidden River 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.
The students had planned a five-hour trip exploring the cave but got trapped by rising water from heavy rains that started after they entered the cave, McDaniel said.
He had no way to communicate with the outside world, but he knew water wasn’t supposed to be a mile deep in the cave.
He says a dive team and other rescue groups are at the scene.
The cave is in south-central Kentucky’s karst region, where many of state’s longest and deepest caves run underground. He didn’t have details about how they got out. Rescues were reported around 4:20 p.m.
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He said authorities have not been in communication with the trapped people and are unsure where they are in the cave. They were met by the four people who had managed to escape.
