THREE cavers have been pulled from King Pot cave in the Yorkshire Dales after a 12-hour overnight operation.

A spokesman for the Cave Rescue Organisation in Clapham explained a team was called out shortly after 5pm yesterday, after a 22-year-old woman slipped and became stuck in a tight fissure at the far end of T-Piece Passage, preventing her two companions from exiting.

"Cave Rescue Organisation teams worked through the night with assistance from Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association and cavers from the Cave Diving Group," continued the spokesman.

"The casualty was eventually freed after the fissure had been enlarged, and assisted up the pitches to the surface, from where she was stretchered down to Braida Garth in Kingsdale."

Her companions were then able to exit under their own steam.

The cave rescue team returned to base exactly twelve hours after the original call out - after giving 468 'volunteer hours' to the trio.