Multiple emergency response agencies and other organizations collaborated to rescue a man from a Centre County cave on Friday afternoon.
Crews were called to assist Pleasant Gap Fire Company at about 1 p.m. for a rescue operation at the cave known as ‘J4’ off Route 26 in Pleasant Gap, according to Alpha Fire Company. A college-aged male had gone into the cave 18 hours earlier and had not been heard from since.
After scaling the side of the rock face, eight rescuers entered the cave through a small opening and split up into teams of two — three for searching and one to put down a hard-wired communication line.
About 90 minutes after the first team entered the cave, the man was located an extracted. He was not injured and after being evaluated by EMS left with friends.
Pleasant Gap Fire Company, Alpha Fire Company, Centre County EMA, Spring Township Police, Nittany Grotto Caving Club, Allison Photo and Aerial Imaging and the National Cave Rescue Commission participated in the rescue effort.
‘A lot of time, effort, training, and equipment go into rescue operations such as this one,’ Alpha Fire Company said in a Facebook post.
‘Thank you to all involved for the awesome teamwork and positive outcome,’ a Pleasant Gap Fire Company Facebook said.
The J4 cave is located on Graymont property and has been closed to the public since 2004. Graymont officials told the Daily Collegian at the time that the cave is in a mine area and was closed because of liability issues. Spelunkers have periodically continued to enter the cave since then, however.
