Tourists Rescued From 26-Hour Underground Stay in Grand Canyon Caverns

Five tourists were trapped underground at the bottom of a “cavern tour” at the Grand Canyon Caverns, according to CNN.

Fortunately, they have since been rescued, according to WRAL News.

Earlier this week, five tourists were stuck at the bottom of the tour when the elevator that returns visitors to the surface experienced some kind of breakdown. Jon Paxton, Coconino County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, told CNN that the group was about 21 flights of stairs underground, so not everyone was able to climb out of the caverns.

He initially said that they had search and rescue teams and “hoisting apparatus to lift people out if repairs take longer than expected.”

It is unclear if the formerly trapped people made it back up on a repaired elevator or through some other means.

The Grand Canyon Caverns are a series of underground caves and the largest dry caverns in the U.S., according to the website of the relevant tour company, Grand Canyon Cavern. The caverns are located near Peach Springs, Arizona, and about 127 miles from the Grand Canyon’s South Rim, which is a popular entrance for visitors and hiking.

The company’s cavern tour typically does not involve getting stuck, presumably, and costs $24.95 per adult, wherein you take an elevator down 200 feet “and 65 million years into the past,” to explore the caverns.

It has other tours and stays, including a “ghost walk” and another where you can pay $1,000 a night to stay at an underground “cavern suite.”