A team of caving specialists has rescued an injured woman from the bottom of the country's deepest sinkhole.
The rescue team brought the 25-year-old Canadian woman out of Harwoods Hole in Takaka Hill shortly before 8.30pm yesterday.
The woman was reported to have moderate shoulder and hand injuries, police said, and was taken to Nelson Hospital.
Her two companions were walked out of the Starlight Cave system by members of the rescue team.
The woman fell while descending into Harwoods Hole, a 176-metre-deep shaft.
Emergency teams were alerted to the group's plight just after 12.15pm yesterday.
The alarm was raised by a group in the area, police said. The remote area had little cellphone reception.
Harwoods Hole is the country's deepest vertical shaft, dropping to an underground river that flows into the Gorge Creek and the Takaka River.
Inexperienced or poorly prepared groups getting into trouble have sparked rescue operations in the past, the Department of Conservation said.
It is not considered a suitable place for learners and DoC describes it as "very dangerous".
Those tackling the hole abseil down the shaft then exit through the cave below. The trip takes at least nine hours for small groups of experienced, well-equipped cavers who are familiar with the rigging.
Canterbury Caving Group president Yann-Pierre Montelle said he had made the trip through Harwoods Hole three times, and on one of those occasions complications meant he had to reascend the hole after reaching the bottom.
"In terms of danger, Harwoods Hole is in and of itself pretty straightforward, but the problem is that people are going in there and they're ill-equipped. Some of them use techniques from rock climbing in a caving environment."
Mr Montelle said the height of the shaft was one of the most challenging factors to him.
"It's pretty impressive when you're on the top of the hole."
In 2008, three people were rescued from the Harwoods Hole after spending hours trapped in the shaft.
Four years earlier, a group of experienced climbers had to be rescued. They included a West Coast alpine guide and three DoC staff.
