Four men were found by rescuers on Friday in a cave in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, park spokesman Kent Cave reported.

After the searchers found them, the rescuing operation lasted six hours and the cavers were out at around 8 p.m. The 13 rescuers were all members of an emergency rescue squad from Knoxville, Tennessee.

The four men – two 17year-olds and two men, aged 20 and 24 - had descended 500 feet into the cave and were wet and cold, as the cave’s temperature was very low.

"They were at the bottom of the third of three major vertical drops in the cave," Cave said on Friday. "It's like rock climbing, but rock climbing in the dark with water falling over you. The vertical drops are basically waterfalls."

Apparently, the men had left Maryville around 10 p.m. and had planned to return five hours later.

The wife of one of the cavers, Garry Blakesley, a youth minister in Maryville, reported the group missing at 7.30 Friday.

There were four caves with entrances in the area, but the rescuers decided to search the Rainbow Cave, after finding a backpack and ropes in the area. The cave is situated in a limestone valley between White Oak Sink and Cades Cove, an area always abounding in tourists, due to the numerous caves found here.

Cave said that the rescued men were all inexperienced in caving and also not properly equipped. They said they had cried for help, but couldn’t be heard because of the powerful sound of underground waterfalls.