2 Teens Rescued After Canoe Capsizes in Underwater Cave and Leaves Them Stranded

Two teenagers have been rescued after a canoe capsized and left them stranded in an underwater cave in Wales.

A mother named Kate had taken her son Draigen and his friend Josh, both 15, on what was supposed to be an exciting trip down an underground slate mine system in the county of Gwynedd after she had carefully researched their route, per BBC News.

But three hours into their journey, tragedy struck after the trio came across a lake within a cave that needed to be crossed and stretched 160 feet and was 200 feet deep.

“There was just a rope hanging in the water, so me and Josh just started pulling this rope and there was a canoe on the end of this rope,” Draigen told BBC News. “It was just insane.”

Kate first abseiled down to the canoe to check it was safe and was able to cross the lake. Josh successfully followed her and then Draigen tried to cross — but he quickly found himself in a scary predicament.

“I just stood on the wrong spot. It just sunk,” he told BBC News. His awkward landing caused the canoe to capsize and he was left “literally waist deep” in freezing water.

“I was panicking — I was struggling to climb back out,” said Draigen. “All the rock was crumbling off the wall. I was in the water for about a minute. It was freezing cold.”

Draigen managed to clamber onto a nearby rock, leaving him stuck on the other side of the lake away from his mother and friend, per BBC News. The trio had no phone signal to call for help, due to being so far down in the cave, and so Kate made the tough decision to leave the boys to find help.

“That was one of the most difficult decisions I probably have made,” she told BBC News. “I knew how scary that was going to be for them.” It took Kate two and a half hours to climb back out of the cave, according to the outlet.

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Eventually, the North Wales Cave Rescue Organisation (NWCRO) and the Aberglaslyn Mountain Rescue Team (AMRT) responded to the scene. 

“We didn’t know if they were injured,” Dave Evans from AMRT told BBC News. “We were hoping that they’d stayed… but they did. They did exactly what they were meant to do.”

The boys were finally rescued after four hours stuck in the cave, per BBC News.

“When I heard their voices — the relief I felt,” said Draigen. “All the stress that had built up, just went,” added Josh.

“I was so proud of them,” Kate told BBC News.