A woman died Friday after falling approximately 30 feet into a cave near Pearisburg, Virginia.
The victim fell shortly after 4:00 p.m. in the Staffordsville Community Cave, according to a Giles County EMS news release. She was identified in DMV records as 38-year-old Autumn Nicole Draper of Fairlawn, Virginia, according to Giles County Emergency Services Coordinator Jon Butler, according to CNN, WDBJ 7 and WFXR.
Local authorities and rescuers located the deceased woman after entering the cave and eventually recovered her body.
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They cleared the scene in Staffordsville, which is about eight miles south of Pearisburg, around 1 a.m. Saturday.
Virginia is home to more than 4,000 caves and, according to a Virginia Department of Energy brochure, caves are used by people for “shelter, religious purposes, moonshine production, saltpeter mining, groundwater, scientific and educational research, recreation, and as commercial attractions.”
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It is not known what Draper was doing in the cave.
PEOPLE has reached out to the Giles County EMS emergency management coordinator for more information about the incident.
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The Giles County Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate the incident following the rescue, which was assisted by the Pearisburg Fire Department, Giles Rescue and Rescue Squad, Celco’s Emergency Response Team and the Blacksburg Rescue Squad.
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Source: HIS Education