A Bristol caver, who was rescued from a Welsh cave after being trapped for 54 hours down a 900ft shaft, is doing "good" in hospital, according to his girlfriend.
George Linnane, 38, suffered multiple fractures and suspected spinal injuries when a boulder gave way and he plunged down a shaft below the Brecon Beacons.
The man was brought out of Ogof Ffynnon Ddu at around 7.45pm on Monday, by a team that included Gloucestershire cavers, following an ordeal that lasted more than two days.
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After being lifted to the surface, he was clapped and cheered by rescuers before being helped into a Land Rover ready to be transported down to a waiting ambulance.
His French girlfriend, who has asked not to be named, yesterday told friends that he is on the road to recovery, reports Mirror Online.
In a Facebook post, she said: “I haven’t been able to see him but hopefully soon. Last I heard, he was good.”
Another friend, Maxine Bateman, was part of the huge rescue team.
Today she told of the moment she finally reached George, an engineer, who had travelled 75 miles from his home in Bradley Stoke, to the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave system on Saturday.
Maxine said: “When I first saw George I was really, really upset. It made me feel quite sick to my stomach to think a friend of mine had had an accident. I held his hand, stroked his fingers and he gave me a squeeze of his hand back. It was nice to feel that from him. I felt that was him telling me ‘I’m OK’.
She added: “Later on, it was much easier knowing we were all here for him and we were making progress, and he was going to come out of that cave.”
His mum, Sally Linnane-Hemmens, said the long wait for her son to be brought to the surface had been “horrendous".
Sally, from Titchfield, Hants, set up a fundraiser for the South & Mid-Wales Cave Rescue Team which led the operation.
She posted: “These guys, along with several other cave rescue teams from across the UK, saved my son’s life.
“He had been trapped underground for 50 hours-plus and is badly injured.”
George was eventually pulled out on Monday night, nearly 57 hours after the alarm was raised. Rescuers clapped and cheered as he was taken to University Hospital Wales in Cardiff.
South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team, which led the 300-strong operation, has since been flooded with donations and yesterday thanked the public for their support.
Relieved pal Mark Burkey posted a new photo of George on social media which showed him on a previous caving trip. Mark said George’s family had asked him for the image to be used.
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