RESCUERS have recovered the body of Rossendale potholer Nicola Dollimore who died tackling one of Europe's deepest caves.

Nicola, 30, was invited to join the trip to the 3,800ft Gouffre Berger near Grenoble at the last minute when another team member dropped out.

Freak flooding five days' ago cost the life of the Oxford graduate and also a Hungarian caver.

Rescuers carried Nicola's body 2,300ft to the mouth of the Berger cave in the French Alps and it has now been flown to a mortuary in Grenoble.

The body of the 25-year-old Hungarian was expected to be brought to the surface today.

Nicola, formerly of Ramsbottom and Holcombe Brook, lived on the Wirral with her husband of three years Nick Perrin. She was a lecturer at the School of Tropical Medicine at the University of Liverpool.

Her mum, Mrs Susan Dollimore and brother Duncan, of Haslingden, are devastated by what has happened. Duncan said his sister was a very experienced potholer.

Another British potholer William Stead, 36, was rescued uninjured after a six-day ordeal.

The British-Hungarian expedition had been planned by Oxford University Caving Club for four years.

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