"the men were 120 feet deep and did not come equipped with proper climbing gear."

Be prepared was standard

I have lived in Virginia my whole life, but even if I had not, the most cursory examination of Google Maps, or an atlas, shows that 180 miles east of Roanoke is nearly in the Atlantic Ocean. Russell County is indeed in SW Va. and is around 150 miles west of Roanoke, Va.

They were lucky

The editing room and fact checkers get the scraps

a cave in the first place.

I went on one of those drive through the cave tourist trap things once. They turned out the lights. You could not see anything. Nothing. It was just black.

That was the last time I ever went into a cave.

but none were risky

Looks like they didn't tell anyone where they were going.

"One man was able to escape and alert authorities..."

No permission to go in.

They were lucky to be rescued.

to their progeny!