Leck Fell, site of the incident. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

Two cavers were rescued after getting lost during a trip underground in the western Dales.

A major operation involving two teams and volunteer cavers began early on Monday morning when the pair were reported more than five hours overdue.

The two set out to complete a through trip between Lost John’s Cave and Notts Pot 2 on Leck Fell in Lancashire at 8pm on Sunday evening. They were expected to resurface about midnight.

The alarm was raised and the Clapham-based Cave Rescue Organisation and members of Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association began searching between the two pots. Other cavers also joined the team volunteers in the operation and Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team and Cumbria Ore Mines Rescue Unit were put on standby.

Rescuers eventually found the pair who had gone off-route underground and become stranded in the Lost John’s system. They were helped to the surface after an operation lasting almost 12 hours.

The CRO was later called out to aid a walker who had suffered a suspected broken ankle half-way up the steps leading to the top of Malham Cove in the Yorkshire Dales.

A CRO spokesperson said: “Two ambulance technicians were on scene when CRO members arrived.

“The patient was given pain relief and had his injured leg splinted, before being put into a vacuum mattress and onto a stretcher. He was sledged and carried down to a team vehicle for later transfer to a road ambulance.”