A WOMAN had to be rescued after she started fitting while pot-holing near Kirkby Lonsdale.

Cave Rescue Organisation were called to caves last Saturday evening after the woman’s friends sounded the alarm because she collapsed and was in and out of consciousness.

The woman, believed to be from Manchester, was carried to the cave entrance by friends before being picked up by an RAF helicopter and taken to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

CRO Underground Controller, Matt Burke, of Kendal, praised both the patient's own party and his CRO colleagues.

"The whole incident went really well. When a casualty's companions can get her moving underground it's much easier for us to maintain that momentum and keep everyone in a positive frame of mind. The fact that they were exhausted by the time they got out, shows how hard they worked. Our own members really got it together; I can only describe it as 'slick'. Then, on re-gaining the surface, to discover that the RAF would be here in only a few minutes was the best news we could have hoped for,” he said.