MAQUOKETA, Iowa -- The 16-year-old boy was able to walk a few steps on his own out of the dark cave before his legs gave way.
"He kind of collapsed into the arms of rescuers," said Jeff Moritz, deputy fire chief with the Maquoketa Fire Department and mutual aid organization MABAS, or Mutual Aid Box Alarm System.
Emergency workers gently helped the teen onto a cot at the bottom of Dance Hall Cave at Maquoketa Caves State Park and slowly snaked their way up the wooden staircase that descends into the cave, stopping occasionally to check that fluids were properly hooked up.
Rescue workers loaded him into a helicopter to be med-flighted, reportedly for treatment of fatigue and hypothermia, just minutes before the helicopter operator had to take off to avoid an approaching storm Friday afternoon.
The aircraft's departure brought to an end a rescue effort that took nearly five hours.
The Jackson County Sheriff's Department had not confirmed the teen's name late Friday. But during the rescue he told Moritz his name was Austin and was at the park with
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Kevin Cullum, the camp's director, said he could not release Austin's last name or the hospital he was flown to, but said he was being treated for "very minor" injuries and was doing well late Friday.
Cullum said the camp group was on a caving excursion at the park.
Moritz said Austin crawled high up in a cavern adjoining the cave floor and slipped into a v-shaped rock that pinned his legs and trapped him approximately 200 feet from the cave entrance at about 11 a.m. Friday.
Rescue workers got the call about an hour later.
Worried about cold temperatures in the cave and somewhat limited air capacity, emergency personnel chipped at the rock around the boy with air chisels to free him.
Jim Green, with the Maquoketa Fire Department, was one of the first rescuers to get to the teen and provide him oxygen in the cave.
Shortly after, Moritz crawled in near him and spent the afternoon keeping Austin talking.
"We talked the whole time," Moritz said. "He was great."
Austin told Moritz that he was from Wisconsin and that it was his sixth year visiting the park with Camp Wyoming. Moritz tried to keep him from panicking, even though the teen's legs appeared to be hyper-extended.
Emergency workers got lights into the dark hole to help provide a sense of calm and wrapped Austin in blankets to warm him and to try to prevent hypothermia.
Officials struggled to communicate since radios weren't working through the walls of rock surrounding them.
Brent Pauls, captain of the Maquoketa Fire Department, said some of Austin's fellow campers were helping relay messages throughout the cave.
Working frantically to keep Austin warm as he lay pinned in a 50-degree rock area, Pauls said the teen's temperature dropped to 85 degrees. Any lower and he would have started to lose some functions, Pauls said.
Moritz, who emerged from the cave covered in mud, hugged some of the other emergency workers after the boy was freed.
It took about 20 minutes to get the teen to the helicopter near the park entrance, just shy of the pilot's 5 p.m. take-off deadline.
The rescue effort drew about a dozen rescue squads and emergency workers from around the area, according to Tom Messerli, Maquoketa's mayor and a member of the city's volunteer fire department. Messerli was helping direct traffic at the park entrance.
Jerry Bowen, a rescue worker and firefighter for the city, said workers have been called into the cave before to help with broken ankles and other minor emergencies. Friday's rescue was a first, however, in terms of the time and equipment the effort required.
"Usually they're in and out in a half-hour," Bowen said.
