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Flashlight in the dark (Picture: Wikimedia Commons/Dmitry G)
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Flashlight in the dark (Picture: Wikimedia Commons/Dmitry G)
Wednesday, 5 August 2015 - 10:54
21-hour ordeal: Lost Maastricht students rescued from cave
Two Maastricht students spent 21 hours lost in the Belgian Kanne cave, just across the border from Maastricht.
While on a bicycle tour on Monday, the two decided to enter the cave for a walk. They used their phones to light their way, but the batteries died before they found their way out, according to Dutch newspaper AD.
After hours of wandering around in the dark, they found a hole that let light into the cave on Tuesday morning and started screaming for help. A shepherd heard them.
"At first I thought it was children playing", Jelle de Groen, the shepherd told Flemish newspaper Het Belang van Limburg. He gave them a bottle of water and called the emergency services.
Employees of a survival organization that organizes activities in and around the caves managed to find the two and lead them out - 21 hours after they entered the cave. A spokesperson for the organization told AD that they are doing well. "We found them within 10 minutes" he said. "Fortunately it ended well."