A POTHOLER was recovering in hospital last night after being trapped by a falling boulder inside a North Yorkshire cave.
The Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue team and members of the Cave Rescue organisation were first alerted just after 7pm on Saturday.
Another member of the group of three which went into Dowber Gill Passage, near Kettlewell, was able to crawl back out of the cave to call the emergency services.
It was 12 hours before rescuers were finally able to carry the victim from the underground cavern.
The 40-year-old, who has not been identified by police, was airlifted to Airedale General Hospital, in Skipton, with a suspected broken leg.
"It certainly appears to have been a prolonged and difficult rescue," said a North Yorkshire police spokesman yesterday. "However, the man's injuries are not thought to be life-threatening."
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