Stuck For 16 Hours: Woman Rescued From Cave In San Diego's East County

SAN DIEGO, CA — A woman was rescued after getting stuck in a cave for 16 hours over the weekend in San Diego County.

The woman got stuck Saturday in a narrow opening within Thunder Canyon Caves on McCain Valley Road in Boulevard, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. Her friends called for help around 6 p.m. after they were unable to dislodge her from a gap about 12 inches wide.

Deputies with the department's Rural Division and volunteers with the Search and Rescue Division responded to the scene. Mutual aid was also requested from the California Office of Emergency Services and a cave rescue team with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

"It takes hours to hike into the caves and rescuers had to inch their way into very narrow passages while slowly passing along their gear and equipment," sheriff's Lt. Jeffery Ford said. "They checked on the patient and kept her warm with blankets to prevent hypothermia."

Rescuers used roping mechanisms to extricate the woman. She was rescued out of the cave around 10 a.m. Sunday, Ford said.

A Cal Fire helicopter airlifted the woman to a safe area where a waiting ambulance treated her for exhaustion, scrapes and bruises.