Cave Rescue?
- Thread starter Manatee Diver
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PfcAJ
Contributor
Returning to the OP, the procedure we learned in GUE-F, Tech 1, and Tech 2 to rescue an unconscious or toxing diver allows you to have complete control of an incapacitated diver. Your right hand keeps the reg in the diver's mouth and pins the diver's head back to maintain an open airway. You use your left hand to balance the diver by grasping the bottom of the wing on the diver's left side. You use that hand to control wing and drysuit buoyancy. You lie atop the unconscious diver's cylinders using the diver as your buoyancy because you make yourself negative. The lift pushes the diver into you and this allows you to have him or her pinned to you. You can move forward, backward, rotate, and ascend and descend without difficulty. Once you have control, moving the diver through any tunnel you can fit one diver over another is not difficult. If you can't fit and need to adjust your position then you just need to remember to first bleed gas from the diver's wing and/or suit as needed, and always keep the reg in the mouth and the head back. You can push or pull the victim through tight spaces and then reestablish the correct rescue position.
Don't ascend a toxing diver until the seizures have ceased. Andrew Georgitsis successfully brought a toxing diver up from a technical dive. IIRC it was a Tech 2 course. The victim was an instructor and dive shop owner who didn't analyze his gas. The victim survived uninjured.
I don't sidemount, and I have no knowledge of what might be taught for rescue in places with low ceilings.
For recovery, the minimum recommended piece of equipment is about 4 feet of rope or strap. One diver swims or scooters towing the decedent. A second diver controls the victim's position and buoyancy.
Don't ascend a toxing diver until the seizures have ceased. Andrew Georgitsis successfully brought a toxing diver up from a technical dive. IIRC it was a Tech 2 course. The victim was an instructor and dive shop owner who didn't analyze his gas. The victim survived uninjured.
I don't sidemount, and I have no knowledge of what might be taught for rescue in places with low ceilings.
For recovery, the minimum recommended piece of equipment is about 4 feet of rope or strap. One diver swims or scooters towing the decedent. A second diver controls the victim's position and buoyancy.
OP
I'll take some risk to save a buddy or a breathing diver I encounter, but I'll just secure a dead diver and let the IUCRR handle the recovery. Not worth it taking a risk for someone who is already dead, when an experienced team can do it with much less risk.
PfcAJ
Contributor
There’s also a whole documentation thing that goes down. Preferably video and written, if resources allow.
LiteHedded
Contributor
It’s not that bad, honestly
Not about cave diving, but:
I am in a group of voluntary divers that work together with dogs for search and recovery. That means we go diving to search for missing people. And yes, sometimes you find a body. Or just cloths, or a car of the missing person without person.
This is absolutely not for everybody. You need to be able to dive in completely dark and murky water where you don't see anything. So you dive mostly solo. You need to get trained to feel. If new divers want to join, they have to do a checkdive and there is talked with them. And yes, no, you are not suitable is also said. You always must know, what if I find a body, can I accept that? Oh yes, my heart is also pumping more when I feel something that can be a body. But then you must think, ok, if it is a human being, I do it for the family, so they can finish their search for the missing person.
So if you want to do a rescue or recovery in a cave, the first thing must be: can I do solodives in a cave? Then, am I capable to do these solodives in difficult circumstances and under stress?
I know experienced cave divers that are not suitable to do a recovery. Some things are the same with recoveries as with being a safety diver: you must have a lot of experience on the dives you do and you must be comfortable to do that dives solo. And know your own limits. And a no is also a right answer if people ask you to do things.
I am in a group of voluntary divers that work together with dogs for search and recovery. That means we go diving to search for missing people. And yes, sometimes you find a body. Or just cloths, or a car of the missing person without person.
This is absolutely not for everybody. You need to be able to dive in completely dark and murky water where you don't see anything. So you dive mostly solo. You need to get trained to feel. If new divers want to join, they have to do a checkdive and there is talked with them. And yes, no, you are not suitable is also said. You always must know, what if I find a body, can I accept that? Oh yes, my heart is also pumping more when I feel something that can be a body. But then you must think, ok, if it is a human being, I do it for the family, so they can finish their search for the missing person.
So if you want to do a rescue or recovery in a cave, the first thing must be: can I do solodives in a cave? Then, am I capable to do these solodives in difficult circumstances and under stress?
I know experienced cave divers that are not suitable to do a recovery. Some things are the same with recoveries as with being a safety diver: you must have a lot of experience on the dives you do and you must be comfortable to do that dives solo. And know your own limits. And a no is also a right answer if people ask you to do things.
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