19 Rescued From Flooded Kentucky Cave

Flash flooding threatened to trap a group of college students inside a Kentucky cave Thursday, but they navigated through neck-deep water to safety, the AP reports. 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. The group that spent more than six hours inside the cave included Clemson University students on a field trip, four tour guides, and two police officers who got trapped when they tried to rescue the group.

The cavers, accompanied by a couple of experienced guides, were unaware of the rising waters threatening to block the cave's entrance. Heavy rains hit the area hours after the group ventured inside, said David Foster, executive director of the American Cave Museum at Horse Cave. Foster said his rescue team ventured about a mile into the cave, where they found the group in a "high and dry" area. (More Kentucky stories.)