Police have praised the planning of a high school trip that led to five people being rescued from a cave system near Nelson when one of the teachers leading the expedition injured his back.
Three students and two teachers from Golden Bay High School in Takaka were rescued this morning after failing to return from a two night caving trip into Nettlebed Cave.
Sergeant Malcolm York praised the trips planning and said the rescue was "a fantastic result".
"This was a school group caving club that had two experienced instructors that had a good pre-plan.
"One of the leaders on the trip suffered a back injury and was not able to move, they were in a safe camping area and were waiting for his back to improve. It improved and with assistance he was able to be brought out of the cave."
Sergeant York said that if the injury hadn't improved it may have taken three days to get the teacher out of the cave. He also added that the students were never at risk during the incident.
The rescue team went into the cave system overnight and found the group at 5am today in the underground camp called Salvation Hall.
"They had to walk for about two hours to reach the cave entrance and there was a further 2.4km journey through the caves before they reached the group," a police statement said.
They had been on a trip in the Pearse Valley Rd area.
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