Three confirmed dead in Tenerife cave rescue drama

dpa German Press Agency Published: Sunday February 11, 2007

Canary Islands- Three tourists were confirmed killed and
three more feared dead after becoming lost in the depths of a cave on
the Canary Island of Tenerife, Spanish officials said.
The six were among a 30-strong party of day-trippers that went
missing in the cave near Los Silos in the north of the island.

The 24 remaining tourists were brought to safety in a dramatic
rescue operation carried out Sunday morning by Spanish police and
fire services.

Rescue teams were able to recover three bodies, authorities said,
adding that there was very little chance that the three remaining
tourists remained alive in the cave's tunnels, which are partly under
water.

The trip to the cave had been organized by a research institute in
the Canaries and a group of nature lovers.

The tourists were predominately young Spaniards between the ages
of 20 and 30, but there were also a number of foreign scientists with
them whose nationalities were not immediately known.

It was believed that the group had taken a wrong turn during their
underground excursion and entered a tunnel which had been dug during
the 19th century in an effort to find water but which had contained
poisonous gases and little oxygen.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency