Injured Researcher Rescued From Deepest Cave In Texas

An injured researcher and her team were rescued from the deepest known cave in Texas over the weekend, and she was airlifted to the hospital, officials said.

Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland said deputies responded Saturday night along with Fort Stockton and Sanderson Fire Departments, Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Wardens, Texas Department of Public Safety, Sanderson EMS, and the U.S. Border Patrol’s Search, Trauma and Rescue Team (BORSTAR), after a researcher was injured inside Sorcerer’s Cave, on private property in remote western Texas.

Sorcerer’s Cave is the deepest known in the state at 567 feet, and at the bottom is Sirion, a river approximately 10 feet wide, named after a river featured in J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” book series.

The research team had been studying Sirion, and on their ascent out of the cave at around 6 p.m., a rock fell and struck a researcher on the head, causing her to fall and injure her shoulder, as well.

According to Texas Game Wardens, the team was not able to call for help until 9 p.m. “due to the cave’s depth and vertical layout.”

Rescue crews “worked through the night” to extricate the research group, Texas Game Wardens said. The injured researcher “was luckily able to limp out with the help of her team,” Cleveland said.

The team finally exited the cave at around 5 a.m. Sunday, and the injured woman was airlifted to a hospital in Odessa.