Associated Press
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A New Zealand cave explorer injured in rock slide was pulled to safety early Tuesday by rescuers who spent three days carrying him to the surface, at times lying down in narrow passages and passing his stretcher hand-over-hand.
Michael Brewer, 47, broke his pelvis and suffered head injuries Saturday in the Middle Earth cave system on the north of New Zealand’s South Island. His climbing partners said they were almost 2 miles from the cave’s entrance and 1,300 feet underground.
Two of his partners spent six hours climbing back to raise the alarm, while one stayed behind with Brewer. A team of 50 rescuers hauled him back to the surface.
|In tight passages, the rescuers had to lie prone and lift Brewer’s stretcher hand-over-hand, said rescue coordinator Sergeant Mike Fitzsimmons.
They used hammers and chisels to chip at obstructions, while Brewer used his hands to help guide the stretcher past snags. He sometimes had to be taken off the stretcher and lifted up vertical shafts up to 40 feet high, rescuers said.
“There was a lot of pushing and pulling and inching forward and there were some areas we had to get him off the stretcher,” rescuer Leo Viersna told local media. “It wouldn’t have been comfortable but we had to get him out.”
Cheers rang out when Brewer emerged smiling from the cave, his wife and two teenage daughters in the crowd. He was flown to a hospital by helicopter.