Spanish cave explorers die in Moroccan mountains

Spanish rescue workers carry a rescued Spanish caver to a clinic in Ouarzazate on April 5, 2015. Only one of three Spanish cavers trapped at the bottom of a deep ravine in Morocco's High Atlas mountains was rescued alive. Fadel Senna/AFP PhotoShow less

RABAT // Two Spanish hikers died after falling down a 400-metre cliff while exploring caves in Morocco’s High Atlas, while a third was rescued with the help of a Spanish expert team.

The Spelunkers Federation of Andalusia in southern Spain accused Morocco of a delay in accepting help from experts to recover the hikers, possibly costing the life of one of the spelunkers, reported Spanish media on Monday.

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy declined to comment on those reports and said authorities were in contact with their Moroccan counterparts from the beginning and had immediately offered a team of police experts to rescue the three.

“[Moroccan authorities] understood — and there’s no reason to believe any differently — that they could do it with their own means. It wasn’t easy because these kind of things are never easy,” Mr Rajoy said.

Originally part of a team of nine, the three men — all experienced climbers — split off from the others. Their companions alerted authorities on Wednesday when they failed to arrive at the rendezvous point.

The Moroccan state news agency said the men, who had been hiking without a guide, had fallen into a 400m crevice near the town of Tarmest.

They were discovered by Saturday and one was already dead.

Mr Rajoy identified the dead spelunkers as Jose Antonio Martinez, a police inspector, and Gustavo Virues, a lawyer. The sole survivor Juan Bolivar, also a police officer, was in good health after a complicated rescue.

“He has been examined by a multidisciplinary team of specialists, and his state of health is good,” said regional health ministry official Dr Khalid Salmi.

The foreign ministry in Madrid said Bolivar’s state of health was being monitored, but did not indicate when he might come home.

It added that the recovery of the bodies of the other two men was “in the hands of the Moroccan authorities”.

* Associated Press, Agence France-Presse