TWO youths from Verwood prompted the launch of a major search and rescue operation when they became stranded in a cave on the Purbeck coast on Saturday night.

One of the young men’s parents called Portland Coastguard at 10.30am on Sunday saying she was worried that they had not returned home as expected after going caving in the Winspit area on Saturday afternoon.

Coastguard Search and Rescue team members had been alerted and assembled on the coast. The Swanage lifeboats were put to sea and the Portland Coastguard helicopter took off when the parent phoned saying the cavers had made contact and were safe.

They said they had been stranded by the tide in a cave and could not make a mobile telephone call until the morning.

Search and Rescue Co-ordinator John Braisher said: “They are safe and the parents got it right. ‘If in doubt, you shout’.”