Missing caver search stepped up

MONTPELLIER, France -- The search has intensified for an experienced caver who failed to surface from a 70-metre deep pothole.

The caver has not been heard from since before dawn on Monday, after the three other members of his group surfaced from the pothole -- 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Montpellier -- to alert the authorities.

The Associated Press said the expedition began on Sunday when the team entered the first of six cavities that make up the cave. The missing potholer -- who has not been named -- became separated from his partners between the fourth and fifth cavity.

The incident comes less than three weeks after seven Swiss students and their instructor were trapped for three days by floodwaters in a shallow but winding cave near the Swiss border.

The eight, who had explored the cave as part of a confidence-building endeavour, were brought out unharmed on May 19 with the help of more than 200 rescue workers, divers and caving experts.