Family rescued after being stuck 20 stories underground at Grand Canyon Caverns overnight

A family of eight was rescued after becoming trapped 20 stories underground for more than a day at the Grand Canyon Caverns in Peach Springs, Arizona on October 23. 

The family was staying at the Grand Canyon Caverns Hotel at the bottom of the caverns, according to the Coconino Sheriff’s Office. However, during their stay, there was a malfunction in the elevator preventing them from leaving the place. 

To leave, the guests would have to climb up to 20 flights of stairs. However, some of the family members were not in physical shape to climb the stairs and the other members wanted to wait together until they could all get out. This left the family stuck inside the cave system until the elevator could be repaired. 

“We basically said no, we can’t climb up those flights of stairs,” Felicia Jimenez, one of the family members, told Storyful. “I have a 5-month-old I would have to hold, and a 2-year-old I would have to hold, and I don’t trust myself to hold onto a railing and have my baby on the one side that is completely open to the bottomless elevator shaft.”

On October 24th at around 10: 30 a.m., the Sheriff’s Office received a report that the elevator could not be repaired and the family was going to need help being rescued. 

Ten members of the Coconino Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Unit-Mountain Rescue Team and four members of the Flagstaff Fire Department Technical Rescue Team responded to the rescue call. 

The rescue team built a technical rope rescue system in the elevator shaft and headed down the stairs to where the family was. They then raised each member one at a time in a process that took about 15 minutes per individual, authorities said. 

The extraction of the family was completed by 6 p.m. All family members were in good condition. 

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