Emergency services crews were called in to rescue a man stuck at the bottom of the Cave Gardens sinkhole early yesterday morning.


SA Police were alerted to the incident after reports that a man had fallen into the hole in Mount Gambier’s CBD.


Police and SA Ambulance Service officers responded to the incident about 8.45am, along with MFS firefighters and State Emergency Services volunteers, who initially were unable to see the man in the cave.


A drone was used to locate the man, before emergency services workers were lowered into the hole to attempt the rescue.


After about two hours a ladder was also lowered into the sinkhole, which the man used to climb up and out of the cave area.


The man was immediately wrapped in a blanket, before emergency workers used a sheet to shroud him from the view of the large crowd of onlookers who had gathered at the busy city location to watch the rescue unfold.


He was then placed on a stretcher and taken by ambulance to hospital.


SAPOL initially issued a release advising of the incident, saying there was no threat to the wider public, but asked people to avoid the area.


A police spokesperson said the initial report was that “a man was stuck at the base of the gardens”.


“Mount Gambier police coordinated a successful multi-agency rescue of the 41-year-old man of no fixed address, who was taken to hospital for assessment,” the spokesperson said.


The spokesperson said that investigations were continuing into how the man came to be at the bottom of the cave.