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240 rescuers...from at least eight teams across the U.K. brought up the 40-year-old man on a stretcher Monday to the entrance of Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, also known as the Cave of the Black Spring, 54 hours after he fell. “The caver was very unlucky here. He’s an experienced caver, a fit caver. And it was a matter of putting his foot in the wrong place,” said Peter Francis, the spokesman for the South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team. “He wasn’t in a dangerous part of the cave, it’s just something moved from under him.” The cave system is located...

THE 12 HOUSE REPUBLICANS WHO ARE READY TO GIVE UP OBAMACARE FIGHT IN ORDER TO END GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWNWhile some Republican members of the U.S. House are standing firm in the spending negotiations (or lack thereof) with Democrats, there are reportedly at least 12 GOP House members who are ready to fully fund Obamacare to end the partial government shutdown.

Krubera is the deepest known cave in the world A Ukrainian team has set a new depth record for caving.The nine-strong group travelled 2,080m (6,822ft) underground, passing the elusive 2,000m mark at Krubera, the world's deepest known cave. The team was part of a project that has made breaking through 2,000m its goal for the past four years. It built on records set by a previous expedition, which blasted through blocked passages in the cave, within Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia. "Even now, we don't know whether we've reached the limit - or if it will go on. We're pretty...

Cavers 'were denied sleep' while detained in Mexico By Chris Boffey (Filed: 31/03/2004) The British potholers arrested in Mexico after being rescued from a cave arrived home yesterday, claiming they had been deprived of sleep during their detention. The six men said that on their first night behind bars, after spending nine days trapped by flood water 120ft underground, they were woken at 3am to be told they would be questioned later that morning. The six British cavers who were trapped underground in caves in Mexico pose for photographs at Heathrow "It was obviously done to deprive us of sleep,"...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico ordered six rescued cave explorers and seven colleagues expelled Monday after officials determined their expedition had violated their tourist visas. The 13 Britons will be placed aboard a flight to London and barred from re-entering Mexico for two years, because they failed to reveal the true purpose of their visit, said Armando Salinas, Mexico's assistant Interior Secretary. While stating they were here as tourists, they "carried out activities of exploration, scientific study and training," Salinas said. Under armed guard, the Britons were transported to Mexico City's International Airport aboard an immigration police bus with bars across...

Tensions rise over cave trip farce MoD scotches wild theories claiming it told Mexico about expedition Mark Townsend Sunday March 28, 2004 The Observer (UK) Diplomatic tensions over six Britons being held in Mexico after being rescued from flooded underground caves increased last night when it emerged Ministry of Defence officials had told Mexican authorities of the cavers' precise plans over a month ago. The Observer has also learnt that the potholers, freed from a cave beneath the Mexican jungle on Friday after being trapped for eight days, had explored the same caves two years ago. The men were arrested...

Six British cavers rescued in Mexico are to face another round of questioning over reports they were looking for radioactive materials on a potholing expedition. But the allegations have been strongly denied by the Ministry of Defence which insist the men, including military personnel, were on a training exercise. The six men, along with seven others which made up the team, have been detained by Mexican authorities over possible visa breaches. Police will hand over the cavers' case to federal prosecutors, who will decide whether to take them to a prison, a holding centre, or leave them in a migration...

Sat 27 Mar 2004 3:03am (UK) Rescued Cavers Face New 'Uranium' Probe By John-Paul Ford Rojas and Pat Hurst, PA News Six British cavers rescued in Mexico were at the centre of a fresh investigation today into reports they were looking for radioactive materials. Defence officials last night denied claims that the men who were on a military training mission had been searching for uranium in the caves near Cuetzalan. The group was trapped for six days in a flooded underground cavern before being freed by specialist divers. But they emerged from under the ground to face questions from immigration...

The six British potholers freed from a cave underneath the Mexican jungle yesterday shared a detention centre for illegal immigrants with eastern European lap-dancers awaiting deportation. The cavers were questioned within the peeling walls of the El Vergel centre on the outskirts of Mexico City before they were due to be escorted to the international airport to fly home overnight. Like the lap-dancers, they were questioned about "activities inconsistent with their migratory status". British diplomats were anxious to say the men were not being deported but even as flight arrangements were being made, Mexico's President Vicente Fox said that Britain's...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A diplomatic rift between Britain and Mexico widened on Friday when President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) refused to accept London's explanations for the presence of a British military group found stuck in a Mexican cave. Fox said Britain had not clarified questions about the activities of six cave explorers, four of them members of the military, who were plucked from a cavern late on Thursday after a week trapped by an underground flood. "We received a reply to our request from Britain, but it is frankly unsatisfactory, we need more clarification about what this...

Trapped British Cave Divers at Center of Mexico Diplomatic Spat Mar 24, 2004 By Morgan Lee/ Associated Press Writer/ CUETZALAN DEL PROGRESO, Mexico (AP) - The plight of British military team of cavers trapped in a Mexican cavern erupted into a diplomatic controversy Wednesday with Mexico saying Britain may have been carrying out training without permission. President Vicente Fox ordered a letter of protest sent to London and demanded an explanation for the ill-fated expedition that left five cavers and a guide trapped in the Alpazat caverns in central Puebla state. "I have instructed the Minister of Foreign Relations to...

CUETZALAN DEL PROGRESO, Mexico (AP) - Six British cave explorers were rescued late Thursday from a cavern in central Mexico, but authorities ordered them detained on suspicion of immigration violations amid a diplomatic spat. The men emerged disheveled but healthy after more than a week in the flooded Alpazat cavern with the aid of a British navy rescue team. The stranded cavers, and the other six members of their team, were to be transferred to an immigration detention center in Mexico City. Authorities planned to question them about their activities amid suggestions that the men violated their tourist visas by...

Rescued cavers held in visa row Press Association Friday March 26, 2004 Six British cavers rescued after being trapped for more than a week were plunged into more trouble today, this time with the Mexican authorities who said they would be detained for questioning. The five British military personnel and their civilian guide had been stuck in the waterlogged caves since last Wednesday before being rescued yesterday. Two British divers, assisted by several Mexican underwater specialists, helped the six men swim with scuba equipment one by one to the surface of the huge cave complex at Cuetzalan during a six-hour...

Cavers rescued as row goes on Three British cavers trapped underground by rising water since March 17 have been pulled to safety, but a row rumbled on as the rescue continued in Mexico. Mexico asked Britain to explain the activities of the military cave divers. The Foreign Relations Department asked for "a detailed explanation of the type of activities" the group was carrying out "and about the objectives of their investigation". Meanwhile, two British and several Mexican divers pulled three of the explorers from the mouth of the Alpazat caverns, where they had been trapped since March 17. The mission...

Visa row erupts over trapped cavers The plight of five British military cavers and their guide trapped in a partly flooded Mexican cavern has erupted into a diplomatic controversy after the Britons apparently entered Mexico without permits or proper visas.President Vicente Fox ordered a letter of protest sent to the British government and demanded an explanation, as the Britons fumbled to explain the ill-fated expedition that left half their team trapped in the Alpazat caverns in central Puebla state. "I have instructed the Minister of Foreign Relations to take immediate action and file a note of protest, and demand a...