Slovenian cave rescuers have completed yet another successful mission as they managed to pull an injured caver out of a cave near Kočevje in the south of the country on 22 February.

The caver sustained injuries after slipping and plunging about six metres deep to the depth of around 160 metres in the Pri Jelen Brdu Cave at about 6pm on 21 February.

A rescue team and doctor managed to reach him soon after the accident, attending to him and stabilising him before the rescue could begin. He was brought out of the cave 18 hours later.

Walter Zakrajšek, the head of the cave rescue service, described the rescue operation as excellent.

Being that the man felt dizzy in the morning, the rescuers initially planned to pull him out on a stretcher, which would have required them to expand the narrow passages with explosives.

Luckily, he recovered from dizziness so they were able to pull him out stretched on a cave climbing harness, which made the rescue operation significantly shorter.

The injured caver was taken to hospital after making it on foot from the cave's entrance to the ambulance, accompanied by the rescuers.

Zakrajšek said the caver sustained injuries to his ribs and right elbow but was otherwise fine.

Maks Merela, the head of the international cave rescue unit, said the rescuers had to expand the narrow passages where necessary with a hand driller before they could pull the injured out.

37 rescuers were involved in the effort with three more teams joining them in the morning for a total of 50 rescuers, Zakrajšek said.

Slovenia is known for its caves with some 14,700 so far discovered. Caving accidents are quite common but the country has one of the best cave rescue services in the world.

In April last year, a 33-year-old local caver who was knocked out unconscious by a falling rock while exploring a newly discovered cave near Cerknica was rescued in a 30 hour-effort that also involved mining.

Comparing the two rescue missions, Zakrajšek said he would give the difficulty rate of the Vranjedol Cave rescue last year a 10 and the latest one a 7.

In January this year, five people were rescued from the Križna Jama Cave after being trapped inside for two days due to a sudden surge in water levels that all but filled the passages. The rescue was only possible after water levels receded enough.

Just before Christmas two underage Italian cavers were rescued from a deep cave near Sežana after they ran out of rope when descending into a chasm and were unable to get out by themselves.