Germany's deepest cave rescue drama near Berchtesgaden

An initial group of 12 rescuers entered the cave in a complex operation to recover the injured climber

A team is trying to rescue a 52-year-old man injured in a rock fall in a 1000m-deep (3,280ft) cave in Germany, in an operation that could take days.

The Riesending cave is Germany's deepest and it took one of the man's companions 12 hours to return to the surface to raise the alarm.

Some 200 people are involved in the operation, near Berchtesgaden in southern Germany.

The first four rescuers arrived at the scene in the vertical cave on Monday.

The man, who was with two companions on a Whitsun-holiday trip, suffered injuries to his head and torso in the rockfall in the early hours of Sunday.

He was one of the researchers who discovered the cave a few years ago, German media report.

While one of his companions went to seek help, the other stayed with him. He is said to be from the Stuttgart area although authorities have not released his name.

Although the entrance was found in 1995, it is only in the past dozen years that explorers have begun investigating the cave system, which is said to be full of ravines and vertical shafts.

The complex nature of the cave system, as well as its depth, is making the operation even more hazardous, officials say.

"We have shafts that go straight down 350 meters (1,150 feet), where you have to rappel down and climb back up on a rope," Klemens Reindl told German TV.

The initial aim was for alpine experts to set up a base station at a depth of 300m and then establish communications with the rescue team.

A team of some 200 people was involved in the rescue operation near Berchtesgaden

The cave is said to have a labyrinth of ravines and vertical shafts