Inquest into school caving death

Joseph was described as one of the school's star pupils

An inquest into the death of a teenage boy who died on a school caving trip in North Yorkshire has been opened.

It is thought Joseph Lister, 14, of Steeton, near Tadcaster, was trapped by rising water at Manchester Hole in Upper Nidderdale, North Yorkshire.

He was among pupils on the first day of a week-long visit to the county council run Bewerley Park on 14 November.

Coroner Geoff Fell opened and adjourned the inquest to allow police and health and safety inquiries to be carried out.

Officers are awaiting the results of toxicology tests to ascertain the exact cause of Joseph's death.

The teenager, who was a pupil at Tadcaster Grammar School, is believed to have gone missing from a party of 10 other pupils, as they made their way out of the cave system because of rapidly rising water following heavy rain.

His body was later recovered by rescuers.

Tadcaster Grammar's headteacher Geoff Mitchell has described Joseph as one of the school's star pupils.

The cave the children had been in is used by instructors to give a basic introduction to caving.

Manchester Hole adjoins Goyden Pot in the stream bed of the River Nidd, one-and-a-half miles north of Lofthouse, near Pateley Bridge.