In Mortal Danger? Here, We Can Help...

"I spent two- to six-hour blocks with the injured caver and chatted to him most of the time."

"Fair credit to the guy. He is a fit guy, and he is incredibly resilient."

Dr. Brendan Sloane, British Cave Rescue Council

 

"[The man was] an experienced, fit caver. [His fall was just] incredibly unlucky, a matter of putting his foot in the wrong place at the wrong time [when something moved out from under]."

"All the odds were against the caver, but his mental powers properly got him through. He was in an awful lot of pain to begin with, until we could get the drugs to him."

"I'm absolutely impressed to no end how the teams worked together. A lot of them didn't know each other and had never worked together before."

"And the fact they pulled this off, I'm absolutely thrilled."

Peter Francis, member, South Wales Caving Club (SWCC) 

Hundred of volunteers worked in shifts to move the casualty to safety   SMWCRT

 

They did 'pull it off', a tedious, strenuous, dangerous rescue by rescue teams spelling one another for hours on end, to get an experienced, but experience-unfortunate caver to safety and hospitalization. It took two days for the mission to complete, with about 250 specialist rescuers committed to make it a success. Thought to be in his 40s, an experienced caver took a disastrously wrong step just after noon this past Saturday.

He was caving in Ogof Ffynnon Ddu not far from a hamlet named Penwyllt (it is Wales, after all), located northeast of Swansea, Wales. He sustained a broken jaw, broken leg and spinal damage. All of which spelled a physical inability to do anything to extract himself from his situation. Just holding on in those circumstances would have represented a feat of mental and physical strength and courage; the will to survive.

Now in hospital in Swansea, the medics there report him in good condition. It was the following Monday when rescuers succeeded in bringing him out of his dilemma at about 7:45 p.m. Emergency services had been alerted by a fellow caver, resulting in specialist cave and mountain rescuers from across the United Kingdom responding. About ten of the fifteen rescue teams in the British Isles sent their personnel to give assistance; providing stretcher carrier support, preparing routes, and delivering supplies.

From underground, working in shifts, some 70 people helped to carry the severely injured man with a stretcher; not always horizontally, but of necessity vertically as well, in manoeuvering many narrow passages. According to the SWCC, there are about 61 km of passages leading to huge chambers, unique geological formations, yawning chasms and thunderous river passages within the cave system. 

Once lifted to the surface the caver, cheered by rescuers, was helped place him into a cave-rescue Land Rover, then transported down to a waiting ambulance. No air ambulance helicopter was able to make the trip and land, given the prevailing foggy, wet conditions to the Brecon Beacons. Near the cave entrance dozens of rescuers were huddled for warmth, drinking hot liquids, while teams set off from SWCC HQ up the mountain to the cave entrance, spelling their colleagues, some of whom had been below ground for 12 hours at a time.

The Cave of the Black Spring system (Ogof Ffynnon Ddu), is one of the deepest, most complex such systems in the U.K. requiring a permit from the SWCC to gain access. It took close to 55 hours, representing the longest, time-consuming and no doubt stressful, cave rescue undertaken at any time in Wales: the man "was a mile or two underground in an awkward place", Mr. Francis reported to the news media.

Some caves in Wales are 275 metres below ground, stretching over 50 kilometres; described as "intestinal". The Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave system is the third longest in Wales. High-risk cavers run a one in 3,332 chance of dying, according to the Startcaving.com web site.

"We often say in caving that an hour of caving equates to ten hours of carrying a stretcher."

"The main point is that the amount of effort that goes into training our rescuers really pays off for an instance like this."

Gary Evans, South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team

Rescuers move the casualty through the cave system  SMWCRT