PROVO — The bodies of four hikers trapped in a small cave, just south of the "Y" on Y Mountain, were found Thursday morning after rescue crews pumped out enough icy water to safely enter the cave and search.
Three of the bodies were found around 10:45 a.m. in the second of two caves, according to Karen Mayne, public information officer for the Provo Police Department.
The first body, that of a 19-year-old woman, was found almost an hour earlier. She had been trapped in a small underwater tunnel connecting the two caves.
The four hikers ranged in age from 19 to 28. The identities of the victims are being held, pending notification of next of kin.
Rescuers were unsure whether the hikers died from drowning or lack of oxygen. A medical examiner was on scene all morning and was investigating.
A group of five hikers started out early Thursday morning, entering the cave around 4:30 a.m., Mayne said. All but one of the hikers entered, one at a time, through a narrow tunnel and came into a larger opening. From that opening the hikers had to go under water through a small narrow tunnel to get to the second cave.
Rescue crews had to force oxygen into the second cave, and pump water out of it, before they could enter.
Steve Hundley, a hiker with the group who remained outside the cave, first notified police around 6:30 a.m. when his friends did not return.
Hundley, age 20, of Provo, said he would also have entered the cave but didn't because he had to work. He said he had been in the cave a few times before and said the water was extremely cold.
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