Thirty-three stranded kayakers including kids as young as 5 are rescued from cave on Tennessee lake after getting trapped when high winds whipped up choppy water

Kayakers in Tennessee, including children as young as 5, were rescued after their tour group was stranded amid a mounting storm.

The Haletown Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to the Nickajack Cave Wildlife Area for a 'mass water rescue' around 8:24 pm Monday, according to the department.

Thirty-three kayakers - 25 adults and eight children, including those as young as five years old - had been stranded amid roaring winds and rough waters as a storm rolled in.

The firefighters were assisted by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), Puckett EMS and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in the daring rescue. No injuries were reported, according to authorities.

The Nickajack Cave area is a popular tourist destination to see gray bats that roost to have their babies in warmer months.

A group of kayakers (not pictured) in Tennessee were rescued from the Nickajack Cave Wildlife Area Monday night

The Haletown Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to the Nickajack Cave Wildlife Area for a 'mass water rescue' around 8:24 pm

The tour group had taken off from the Macedonia Road boat ramp earlier and paddled towards the cave, which is popular with tourists for its yearly bat sightings

The tour group had taken off from the Macedonia Road boat ramp earlier Monday evening and paddled across the lake towards the Nickajack Cave, according to the TWRA.

They were 'quickly challenged' by 'harsh conditions' that caused some people to fall into the water.

The kayakers were ferried to shore by TWRA officers after a rescue vessel from the New Hope Fire Department capsized due to the blustering gusts.

All of the kayakers were wearing life jackets - which may have saved their lives, the TWRA said.

According to Stephen Ware, a spokesman for the Haletown Volunteer Fire Department, Monday's rescue was the largest-scale water rescue in the recorded history of Marion County.

Speaking to Local 3 News, Ware said the tour group never should have gone out in such turbulent conditions.

'In fact, the water was so shallow that at points, the waves were actually coming up higher from the wind than the depth of the water when the water's completely still,' he said.

However, Ware conceded that the kayakers 'did the right thing.' 

'They stayed where they were, they called for help, they let us come out to them and get them out,' he said.

The tour group quickly faced 'harsh conditions' that caused some kayakers to fall out of their boats

A spokesperson for the Haletown Volunteer Fire Department said the tour group never should have gone out on the water in the first place

All of the kayakers were wearing life vests, which may have saved their lives amid the brutal conditions

Nickajack is one of the most important caves in the Tennessee Valley, as it serves as a maternity roost for gray bats

Nickajack Cave historically served as a refuge for Native Americans and a hideout for river pirates.

During the Civil War, both the Union and Confederacy mined the cave for saltpeter, a key ingredient in gunpowder.

Nickajack is one of the most important caves in the Tennessee Valley, as it serves as a maternity roost for gray bats.

Pregnant females arrive in spring to deliver to a single pup, and the reservoir provides bats with a steady food source as they consume thousands of insects each night.

The cave was fenced in 1981 to protect the bats from human intrusion and reduce the spread of white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that can kill at least 95 percent of a colony in just two years, according to the TWRA.

In 1992, the agency designed Nickajack as the state's first non-game wildlife refuge.