How trapped caver braved broken jaw to talk to rescuers

A CAVER brought to the surface in one of the biggest rescue operations in British history suffered a badly smashed jaw — but still managed to talk to the team working around the clock to save him.

- John Dunne

The man in his forties was brought out of Ogof Ffynnon Ddu in the Brecon Beacons at around 7.45 pm last night after more than 54 hours underground.

After being pulled to safety on a stretcher, he was clapped and cheered by the rescuers before being taken to hospital. Paul Taylor, chairman of Gloucestershire Cave Rescue Group, was among the expert cavers scrambled to Wales.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I understand a boulder moved and that resulted in him falling. They were just climbing up over some rocks as probably hundreds of other people have done in the past and the rock decided it had had enough —and he was the most unfortunate person to be there at the time.