250 divers rescue man after 50+ hours - Brecon Beacons, Wales

[DandyDon]

I cannot tell if he did any diving to get in as the story is about the rescue. He was cave dive trained.

First picture of man trapped in cave for 54 hours as his mum thanks rescuers

George Linnane, 38, suffered serious injuries, including a broken leg, jaw and collarbone.

metro.co.uk

A man trapped in a cave for 54 hours in Wales has been pictured for the first time.

George Linnane, 38, suffered serious injuries, including a broken leg, jaw and collarbone, during his nightmare ordeal in the Brecon Beacons.

The experienced caver was stuck in the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu since Saturday after suffering a fall at around 1pm.

His social media describes him as a ‘petrolhead, scuba diver, caver, engineer, snowboarder, DJ, producer, human’.

Friends have described him as ‘stoic’ and a ‘reliable guy’ unlikely to take risks, MailOnline reports.

His mum has thanked hero volunteers who saved his life after he was carried out the cave on a stretcher yesterday following a major rescue operation.

A 250-strong team swam through an underground stream with the engineer on a floating stretcher on Monday.

They then lifted him 90ft through a vertical chasm with the stretcher on ropes.

Sally Linnane-Hemmens has set up a fundraiser for the South & Mid-Wales Cave Rescue Team who worked around the clock.

She posted today: ‘These guys, along with several other cave rescue teams from across the UK, saved my son’s life.

‘He had been trapped underground for 50 hours-plus and is badly injured.’

Mr Linnane’s girlfriend said last night: ‘We are obviously very grateful to all the rescuers.’

He is being treated at a hospital in Cardiff. His injuries are thought to be non-life-threatening.

South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team spokesperson Peter Francis, 74, said yesterday: ‘This is the longest rescue we’ve ever done but we’re very pleased with the progress being made.

‘The caver was very unlucky here. He’s an experienced caver, a fit caver. And it was a matter of putting his foot in the wrong place.

‘He wasn’t in a dangerous part of the cave, it’s just something moved from under him.’

 

[Searcaigh]

More info here Friends praise resolve of cave diver who sparked 56-hour rescue

 

[wgw04024]

If they had to extricate him up 90' I would guess he wasn't 'cave diving'? Was he alone?

 

[Marie13]

If they had to extricate him up 90' I would guess he wasn't 'cave diving'? Was he alone?

UK cave diving is quite different from that in Florida and MX. Combo of dry caving and cave diving from what I’ve read. Often done solo. The book Aquanaut by Rick Stanton, one of the UK cave divers who saved the Thai soccer team I. 2018, goes quite into depth about UK cave diving. Excellent book.

 

[DandyDon]

If they had to extricate him up 90' I would guess he wasn't 'cave diving'? Was he alone?

I think it said that they had to take him out a distant entrance as the close one was not suitable, and he had fell 50 feet.

 

[Wibble]

It was a "dry" cave, with several streams. No cave diving (as far as I'm aware)

Extricating someone from a cave takes a long time if they're 'broken'. Often said it's 10 or 20 times longer to get out than it took to get in.

There's some cave diving in the UK, but not those massive tunnels you're familiar with in Florida or Mexico. UK caves are generally sump diving; done by cavers who dive rather than divers who cave. The British style of cave diving kit's very different to that of the DIR variety. For a start it's very much solo diving using sidemount or no-mount to push through. There's no long hose as it's not needed! Cylinders are frequently small -- 2 or 3 litre steels -- as they're needed to get through the sump to the other side and you have to drag it through some gnarly cave to get it there in the first place.

Your kit will often consist of diving kit and climbing kit combined. Probably a wetsuit under a hard-wearing caving suit and Wellington boots.

To quote from the CDG (Cave Diving Group) website:

Here are some things that we would tell anyone thinking of going cave-diving in the UK – things we think they should know about cave diving British style…

Firstly, only a small proportion of the British Isles consists of the limestone in which caves most commonly occur. Thus there are a very limited number of cave-diving sites, and of these, only a handful have reasonably easy physical access combined with roomy underwater passages and occasional ‘good’ (ie. more than 2 metres) visibility. Most of these would require you to be a fully-fledged caver yourself, and you would need to have the necessary ropes & ladders and know how to use them safely (including competence in Single Rope Techniques – abseiling & prussiking). As some of the caves can be three miles from the road, several hundred feet deep, with lengthy crawls and other obstacles, you would need to be able to muster a team of cavers to carry your kit to the dive site. And of course you would need to know where the cave entrance is!

Cave Diving Group of Great Britain & Northern Ireland

Technical divers since 1946. The Cave Diving Group is the representative body for Cave Divers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

cavedivinggroup.org.uk

Cave Diving British Style (an essay) - Cave Diving Group

There are some things that we would tell anyone thinking of going cave-diving in the UK - things we think they should know about British cave diving.

cavedivinggroup.org.uk

UK Mine/Cave Diving and Exploration – Connecting Mine & Cave divers throughout the UK

Mine/cave diving sites in the UK – UK Mine/Cave Diving and Exploration