ST. PAUL — Firefighters rescued a 19-year-old from deep inside a cave along the Mississippi River bluffs early Sunday in St. Paul after he texted a friend that he was trapped before his phone went dead.

Authorities got word around 12:45 a.m. that the teen had fallen into the cave. Firefighters from the St. Paul and Minneapolis advanced tactical-rescue teams brought him to safety around 5 a.m., St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard said.

He was pale and shaken but could walk and talk, Zaccard said. He was taken to Regions Hospital with minor injuries. Firefighters searched the entire cave until about 8 a.m. to be sure no one else was trapped inside.

The cave is in Lilydale Regional Park, west of the High Bridge and about 200 feet up from the street below.

The teen fell about 20 feet down a shaft and was roughly 300 feet into the cave, Zaccard said. The cave is “vertical for a while and then curves about 60 degrees to the horizontal and then back several hundred feet,” he said.