Polish rescuers set out to recover bodies of trapped cavers

WARSAW: Rescuers set off on a helicopter Saturday to recover the bodies of two spelunkers who had been trapped in a mountain cave in Poland since last week, a senior official said. The two men had entered the Wielka Sniezna limestone cave in the Tatra mountains of southern Poland last week along with four others, who resurfaced and raised the alarm after losing contact with the pair last Saturday. Mountain rescue chief Jan Krzysztof told journalists his team arrived between late Thursday and early Friday when they found the two bodies. Krzysztof said efforts to bring out the corpses would take a long time, adding the safety of his team was a priority as they have to go through narrow tunnels. He said explosives would be used to widen the most difficult passages. According to the rescuers, the cavers were blocked by a sudden rise in water that could also have led to a rise in air pressure. Their chances of survival were thought to be slim because of the low temperature, around 4 degrees centigrade. Another tragedy unfolded on the Tatra mountains this week. Five people died during a violent thunderstorm last Thursday on the Slovak and Polish sides of the mountain. About 150 others were wounded — burned or touched by shards of stone.