Pokemon teenagers rescued from mine

FOUR teenagers had to be rescued after getting lost in a mine complex for about six hours while hunting for creatures on the Pokemon Go phone app.

The boys, thought to be aged 14 or 15, were only saved when they eventually managed to contact Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue from the bottom of a 100ft ventilation shaft at Box Mine, in Wiltshire.

A local guide who knew the mines was drafted in to help and the four were rescued unharmed at about 6pm on Thursday, station manager Damien Bence said.

Pokemon Go, an augmented reality game, was launched in the UK on Thursday and has exploded in popularity. It uses the phone’s GPS location data to allow players to roam the real world and catch virtual monsters.

Mr Bence said: “They were a bit reluctant to say why they were down there, one of them did mention they were looking for Pokemon characters.

“I asked him ‘did you find any?’ and he said ‘no’.”

Mr Bence said the firefighters were unable to go into the mines and called on a specialist mine rescue team, but a local guide offered to go down and lead the boys out an hour after they made their emergency call at 5pm.

“They said they got in there on Thursday lunchtime, so they had been lost for five hours. They miraculously got a phone signal at Cathedral, an old ventilation shaft 100 feet below ground, and called us at around 5pm.

“This shaft is quite near a few domestic properties so we started making contact with them. We sent water down and a radio so they could talk to us.” TENNIS coach Judy Murray watched a different ball game yesterday as she followed England’s fortunes at cricket.

Murray, whose last visit to a major sports event was to see her son Andy win a second Wimbledon title, watched the action closely from the stands as England took on Pakistan in the Investec Test match at Lords, the home of cricket. England’s batting order collapsed as the Pakistan bowlers ran riot during the second day of the Test.