A woman died after falling roughly 100 feet inside a cave in Virginia on Friday, officials said.
The Giles County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call that a woman had fallen “approximately 100 feet within a cave,” according to a county emergency services news release.
The cave is located in Staffordsville, about 60 miles west of Roanoke.
The woman was identified by officials as Autumn Nicole Draper, 38, of Fairlawn, NBC News affiliate WSLS in Roanoke reported.
After the first responders arrived on the scene, the Celco Emergency Response team and the Blacksburg Rescue Squad’s Technical Rescue Cave team were called in for additional assistance.
The rescuers discovered a deceased woman upon entering the cave and “extricated” her body, officials said.
Officials have not said if the cave was an established tourist attraction or a random unregulated cave, WSLS reported.
It remains unknown what she was doing in the cave. All rescue personnel have cleared the scene. The incident remains an open investigation.
