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CANMORE — Rescuers chiseled a man out of a cave near Canmore after the tourist got stuck near the end of a guided tour and spent at least 13 hours wedged between the rocks.

Around 6 a.m. Tuesday, emergency officials freed the unidentified man from Rat’s Nest Cave in Grotto Mountain, about six kilometres east of Canmore along Highway 1A.

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“It’s very unusual, “said Jeremy Mackenzie, public safety specialist with Kananaskis Country Public Safety. “We train in cave rescue, but we also rely on the Alberta-B. C. Cave Rescue Association because they are highly specialized.

“It’s extremely rare to have someone stuck underground.”

The tourist was on a cave tour around 5 p.m. Monday when he got stuck in an area called the Laundry Chute.

“It’s a narrow section, where there’s a little bit of squeezing and wriggling your way through different constrictions,” said Mackenzie, noting it requires going through on your back or belly. “On the final constriction, this person wasn’t able to make it through.