Stuck in a cave: British military personnel get trapped spelunking, spark bilateral firestorm.

PUEBLA -- The six men from Britain's Combined Forces Caving Association expected a trip packed with spelunking, hiking and plenty of tacos and beers. Instead, they found themselves trapped for eight days underground, locked up for four days in a detention center and at the center of a diplomatic rift between Mexico and England.

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But the retired major, civilian caving expert and four British soldiers refused to let such trivialities dampen their spirits. "We're feeling quite cheerful. Anybody got a drink?" asked Toby Hamnett, shortly after he had escaped from his subterranean prison by diving through a 100-meter-long flooded tunnel.

The ill-fated expedition, codenamed "Cuetzalan Tiger 2004," started at the rugged mountains of Puebla at the end of February. The objective was to explore and map tunnels around Cueva Alpazat, which could be one of the biggest caving systems in the Americas.

No major problems were expected, as many of the team had already been to the caves, which lie beneath a group of ramshackle villages in one of Mexico's poorest regions. But after several successful trips into the tunnels, disaster struck in the form of a freak torrential downpour.

300 METERS BELOW

Central Mexico's rainy season normally lasts from early June to late October. However, on March 17, a torrid storm passed above the mountains around Cuetzalan and flooded a section of the Alpazat caves, completely blocking a 100-meter long passage.

In accordance with their safety measures, over half the team, including expedition leader Major Steve Whitlock, were safe on the surface. But retired major Jonathon Simms, civilian Simon Cornhill and serving military personnel Charles Milton, Chris Mitchell, John Roe and Hamnett were all deep underground on a trip programmed to take up to 48 hours.

"We were never really worried. We have 100 years of caving experience between us," said Simms, recalling the moment when they realized they were trapped. The men also had two weeks rations, including a lot of instant spaghetti and chocolate cake and had radio contact with the ground.

The plan was to let the water drain and walk out, and so the group found a dry cave the size of a basketball court that was 300 meters below the surface and waited. Over the following days, they grew beards, talked a lot and got very bored.

"They said they had made a new discovery but then cut up the notes to make playing cards," said leader Whitlock. "They were never in real danger, and their spirits were always high."

TEMPEST IN A TEACUP

However, above ground, the story of the trapped British cavers began to create a storm in the local media. The first article appeared in El Universal after the cavers had been trapped underground for six days. The story said there were some trapped British scientists who had refused help from Mexican authorities, a claim that made the group sound arrogant and suspicious.

Whitlock and British officials said this was nonsense, as they had worked with Mexican authorities from the beginning. However, the team did favor the use of British rescue divers Rich Stanton and Jason Mollison from Cave Rescue Organization over Mexican underwater specialists.

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"The men are very experienced, and they have worked with some of the trapped people before. They are the best people for the job," said British Ministry of Defense attache Ian Blair-Pilling, who flew in from Guatemala to help resolve the crisis. As the story leaked and it became clear there were military personnel involved, outrage spread through the Mexican press and public.

NO LOVE FOR OUTSIDERS

Mexico has a history of violent intervention from foreign powers. Three centuries of Spanish colonization, the U.S. takeover of border territories and the French occupation of Mexico City in the late 19th century have led Mexicans to jealously guard their national sovereignty.

When the media reported that foreign soldiers were training in Mexico, politicians clamored that their borders had been breached. "It's a blatant violation of sovereignty. The government needs to take action immediately," said Sen. Laura Alicia Garza of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Some Mexican newspapers even reported that the expedition was looking for uranium, a mineral not believed to exist in Mexico.

Local villagers had become very curious and were crowding around the cave entrance watching the expedition members and embassy officials. "If these cavers have come for fun, that is fine. But if they are up to something funny then we have a problem," said Miguel Bautista, who was sitting at a butcher's stool in the nearby village of Tzinacapan sharpening his machete.

BRING ON THE PRESIDENT

President Vicente Fox--who was visiting Central America during the debacle--was forced to respond. "What are they doing there?" Fox told reporters. "We demand an answer from the British government."

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British Ministry of Defense officials claimed it was not a military or scientific expedition, and they had asked permission from Mexican authorities. The Combined Services--which incorporates Britain's army, navy and air force--organize hundreds of such trips, which are more like adventure holidays than army exercises, they said.

"It is great training and builds good team spirit," Blair-Pilling said.

However, Mexican immigration officials said the mapping of cave systems would require special visas, while any type of training would need permission from the government, The expedition members had come on 90-day tourist visas. With pressure mounting for a resolution and the sump of water still not draining, the team sent in divers Stanton and Mollison on a Thursday--day eight for the cavers.

"We would have preferred to have waited. But there was so much media attention," Simms said.

TENSIONS BOIL OVER

On the day of the rescue operation, dozens of Mexican police and soldiers and officials from several government departments, including the immigration and nuclear energy agencies, descended on the cave entrance. British and Mexican officials said they were co-coordinating the rescue in harmony.

"It's a well-organized job with everyone playing their role," said Joe Hernandez Corona, director of Puebla state's Civil Protection System. But to most observers it appeared to be a chaotic operation with no one in charge.

British embassy officials attempted to block off the cave entrance to press and civilians with the help of the Mexican soldiers, provoking outrage from the local journalists.

"British people are giving orders to our soldiers and telling us where we can go in our country," said Televisa reporter Pablo Reinah. "I think this a very serious problem, and our government should intervene."

In the afternoon, scores of Mexican journalists and villagers marched passed the embassy officials shouting that it was their country and they could go where they wanted.

By the evening, the trapped cavers had been pulled out by the British divers, who took underwater equipment, including compressed air canisters, through the sump and guided the men back. But it was still not time to sit down for a drink for the members of Cuetzalan Tiger 2004.

Police took the six men who had been trapped underground and the other seven members of the expedition to the Vergel immigration detention center in Mexico City. During four days, they were locked up and thoroughly debriefed by immigration officials and agents from the federal Attorney General's Office.

Finally, they were deported from the country on grounds they had violated their tourist-visa status by attempting to map the caves.

"This sets a great example," said Interior Secretary Santiago Creel. "Everyone is welcome to come to Mexico, but they have to have the right documents."

So what did the cavers regret most about the misadventure? For retired major Simms, it was neither being stuck in a hole for eight days nor being at the center of an international dispute. "The most horrific thing was not having a beer for two weeks straight," he said.

Ioan Grillo is a correspondent in Mexico for the Houston Chronicle.

Exclusive photos obtained by Marco Ugarte