Divers brought in food to eight Swiss cavers trapped today in a flooded underground tunnel system in eastern France as flood waters receded amid hopes of rescue before nightfall, local officials said.
Floodwater was going down rapidly at the rate of 12-15 centimetres (five to six inches) an hour and there were hopes of rescuing the five men and three women, all in their 20s, before sundown, local government chief Mr Alain Gehin said.
"Contact has been re-established with the cavers," Mr Gehin told reporters: "They're in good health but they're a bit cold.
"The rescue workers brought them food, energy bars and water," he reported.
A bid to rescue the team had been delayed by continuing high water levels.
Mr Eric Zipper, a technical rescue specialist, said earlier that the water level had prevented rescuers reaching a cave where they could dynamite the rock, to evacuate the water from the tunnel system more quickly.
"There's too much water in the tunnel, preventing rescue workers from getting through," he reported during the morning.
The first of the two divers to reach the air pocket where the group have taken refuge gave the alert, and the second brought in the supplies.
The cavers were trapped by rising waters late Wednesday in the Bief Parou caves at Goumois, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the Swiss border.
Equipped only with walking shoes, anoraks and jeans, the group- seven students and a guide - was stranded in a relatively dry area at the end of a six-metre-long flooded tunnel.
Once rescuers reached the group, they would equip them with diving equipment so they could advance through the flooded passageway and then walk the last 40 metres (yards) on dry rock to reach safety, he said.
"The time they would spend underwater shouldn't last more than 30 seconds, and they would be preceded and followed by divers," Zipper said.
AFP