Two teens are lucky to be alive after becoming trapped in an underwater cave. The two became stranded after their canoe capsized in Wales.
Draigen and his friend Josh, both 15, went on an underground slate mine exploration with Draigen's mother Kate. According to BBC News, th three decided to cross an underground lake in the cave system that stretched 160 feet and 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."
"I just stood on the wrong spot. It just sunk," he told BBC News. "I was panicking — I was struggling to climb back out. All the rock was crumbling off the wall. I was in the water for about a minute. It was freezing cold."
Underwater Cave Rescue
He managed to climb onto a rock but was stuck on the otherside of the lake with no way to reach his mom and friend. His mother made the tough decision to leave her son and his friend to go get help. It took her more than two hours just to climb out of the cave and much longer for help to eventually come for the two.
"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.
The North Wales Cave Rescue Organisation (NWCRO) and the Aberglaslyn Mountain Rescue Team (AMRT) came to help the teen in the cave.
"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."
"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.
