A 25-year-old caver who slipped and fell inside a 650-foot-deep underground chasm was miraculously saved after only breaking her leg.

The woman, who has not been named, had been exploring the Grotta del Falco in the Alburni mountains, in the Italian province of Salerno, with friends on 14th August when she slipped and fell, injuring her leg.

Specialist rescue teams from Campana, Puglia, Lazio, Abruzzo, Umbria, Marche, Emilia-Romagna and Sicily joined an hours-long rescue operation.

The team was made up of climbers, cavers, medics and technicians and had to hack away part of the chasm wall to be able to remove the woman from the cave.

She was eventually strapped in 130 metres (426 feet) below the surface and rescue workers began the painstaking operation to bring her to the surface the following morning.

Video footage shows one rescuer entering the cave during the operation while others get a stretcher ready.

Newsflash obtained a statement from the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps on 15th August, saying: “The girl slipped to a depth of about 130 metres, causing trauma to her lower limb.

“In addition to the technicians of the Speleological Rescue of Campania, Puglia, Lazio, Abruzzo, Umbria, Marche, Emilia Romagna and Sicily also intervened on the spot.

“Due to the particular morphology of the cave, the disobstruction teams of the Speleological Rescue have also been activated.

“A team made up of Umbrian and Sicilian technicians took steps to widen the narrowest sections of the cave to allow the stretcher to pass easily.

“The injured person was delivered to the 118 air ambulance of the Salerno air rescue service for transport to the hospital.”