MORE than 20 volunteers joined a search for two people who had failed to return from a through trip in the Croesor Rhosydd mines in Eryri.

Volunteer rescuers from the North Wales Cave Rescue Organisation (NWCRO) responded to the task. They were split into two groups; one team walked the incident site from Tanygrisiau whilst the second organised equipment and drove up from Croesor village with Aberglaslyn Mountain Rescue Team.

The Tanygrisiau group searched Rhosydd mine while the Croesor group went into Croesor mine.

The missing persons were located at the base of the first pitch down in Croesor and were helped out.

Having had problems with the boat, one person had swam the lake, which is very deep and extremely cold, to retrieve the boat.

The party then continued but were unable to find their way out of Rhosydd quarry at the end of the trip and were forced to retreat back to Croesor.

A spokesperson from NWCRO said: "This required ascending in-situ ropes for which the party were unprepared. Even so, they managed to get back to the base of the long first pitch where they were found by NWCRO.

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"The Croesor party returned to Croesor village with equipment and the remaining team members walked back to Tanygrisiau. All team members were off the hill by 1.30am Saturday.

"NWCRO has no wish to dissuade people from attempting the through trip, however many groups have encountered problems such as one - the in-situ boat is often jammed and not easily available for the lake crossing and two, route finding in Rhosydd mine can be difficult.

"Anyone considering the trip should think about what to do should things not go to plan. At very least they should know the route and carry rope ascending equipment to allow a retreat to be made if necessary."