The tourists who had become stuck for over 26 hours about 200 feet underground at the Grand Canyon Caverns in Peach Springs, Arizona, on Sunday when an elevator malfunctioned have all been brought back to the surface with the help of local fire departments.
Six people had become stranded at the tourist site after an elevator stopped working around noon on Sunday, including a family of four with two young children, and a second couple, according to Seligman Fire Chief Gary Bennett.
Firefighters with the Seligman Fire District were able to help the family of four up the approximately 21 flights of stairs to the surface between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Sunday evening.
According to Bennett, the husband of the second couple was also able to take the stairs to the surface, but decided to return to the cavern to stay with his wife at the motel suite located at the bottom of the caverns on Sunday night until the elevator became operational again.
The Grand Canyon Caverns are a series of underground caves and the largest dry caverns in the U.S., according to the website of the relevant tour company, Grand Canyon Cavern. The caverns are located near Peach Springs, Arizona, and about 127 miles from the Grand Canyon's South Rim, which is a popular entrance for visitors and hiking.
The company's cavern tour typically does not involve getting stuck, presumably, and costs $24.95 per adult, wherein you take an elevator down 200 feet "and 65 million years into the past," to explore the caverns.
It has other tours and stays, including a "ghost walk" and another where you can pay $1,000 a night to stay at an underground "cavern suite."