Six feared dead in cavern on Tenerife

MADRID, Feb 11 (Reuters) Rescue workers were struggling to to reach six people, whom they feared may have suffocated, deep in an underground cavern on the Spanish island of Tenerife today, a spokeswoman said.

The six were part of a group of 30, including scientists and members of a nature organisation, who entered the caves yesterday.

Most had managed to get out of the caves unaided, but eight were rescued in the early hours of the morning with acute breathing difficulties and were taken to hospital.

''The chances are not good. They have been in there many hours and oxygen is short,'' a spokeswoman for the emergency services said.

''The tunnels are very narrow. There is not much air and this was a big group.'' The underground labyrinths on the volcanic island of Tenerife, off the coast of Morocco, are known to some locals.

Newspaper El Pais said some were tunnels excavated in the 19th century in the search for water and that they were often filled with volcanic gases.

Those missing were 1,500 to 2,000 metres underground and access for rescue workers was very difficult, the spokeswoman said.

The Teide mountain on Tenerife is one of Europe's few active volcanoes.

Reuters SY RN1602