On the other hand there is the rescue of Emily Davis Mobley from Lechuguilla Cave in the early 90s, which was quite difficult and competently handled, without the sideshows and carnivals.

And there was a more recent, unsuccessful rescue attempt in Nutty Putty Cave in 2009. The decision was made to leave the body in the cave, at the least for several years.

Cave rescue has come a long way from Floyd Collins. But there is no rescue specialty which can present the outlandish and bizarre situations that one finds in cave rescues. They can be as difficult as they come.

Finally, mines should not be confused with caves, especially in rescue situations. Mines are orders of magnitude more unstable and dangerous than caves - just consider the differing ways that the two are formed. Mines are formed instantly (geologically speaking) by blasting while caves are slowly dissolved by acids and running water over thousands of years.