A CAVING expedition in North Lancashire has ended in tragedy with the death of a primary school teacher.

Lancashire Police and Clapham Cave Rescue team were called to Leck Fell, north of Kirkby Lonsdale, on the weekend.

They received reports that a caver had taken a fall while potholing in the Notts Pot system of caves.

Paula Szajnowska, a 34-year-old primary school teacher from Horsforth, Leeds, had fallen 70 feet from a ledge, sustaining serious head injuries from which she died before cave rescue teams could reach her.

Clapham Cave Rescue duty controller, Dave Gallivan estimated that the recovery operation took around nine hours, finishing at 1am on Sunday.

He also said that the Notts Pot was not notoriously dangerous and had not been the subject of many rescue team call-outs over in recent years.

Mrs Szanowska was potholing at Notts Pot as part of a caving club expedition and she was an experienced potholer and climber.

Police are treating her death as a tragic accident.

Mountain rescues...

In two separate incidents on Saturday, Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team were called out to assist walkers who had sustained injuries while walking in the fells.

Thirteen members of the team assisted a nine-year-old girl from Ormskirk who fell in the Fix Ghyll area of Loughrigg, sustaining a suspected broken arm.

She was treated on the fell by the team, who then stretchered her down to an ambulance which took her to Royal Lancaster Infirmary for further treatment.

The team was also called to help a 51-year-old man from Malta who slipped while descending a path on Stickle Ghyll in Great Langdale, sustaining a suspected broken ankle.

He was treated at the scene and then stretchered down the fell before being taken by ambulance to Westmorland General Hospital