General Vortex Incident Discussion

[BDSC]

From the comments I have read on this thread and others, I think a lot of people don't believe he is in there. If, and I say IF it is some sort of stunt and he's alive somewhere, it will eventually be discovered.

 

[Cave Diver]

I hate to bring this discussion back to it's original path but has anyone read this?

Experts Don't Believe Missing Diver is Actually in Cave at Vortex Springs

I'll let you all read the rest, it won't copy and paste well.

Here is the rest of the article:

t's been almost a month since 30-year old Tennessee native Ben McDaniel supposedly disappeared while cave-diving at Vortex Springs.

After hundreds of man-hours searching the cave, some are beginning to doubt McDaniel's body is inside. Experts cave divers say the evidence just isn't adding up.

The case is as tragic as it is bizarre. No one has seen or heard from Ben McDaniel since Wednesday August 18, when he was last seen preparing to make a dive at Vortex Springs near Ponce de Leon.

Dive shop employees notified authorities two days later when they realized his vehicle, keys, and valuables were still in the same place he had left them. Since then, recovery efforts have been underway with some of the top diving experts who have gone as far as humanly possible inside the cave, and still no sign of McDaniel. This is leading some of them to believe he may not be in there at all.

The International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery Group was here over the weekend to search the cave again.

"We do not believe that he is in this cave. No one else could have gotten to the end of the cave or a perceived beyond without having extra bottles in the water to be able to get himself in that far. As small as the environment gets the further you get back, you can't carry those bottles through that. So he would have had to leave them and drop them, leave them and drop them until you get to the back; Because at the furthest point of this cave, the diver can't move with anything on" says Larry Green, the Regional Coordinator of the group.

The restriction narrows down to inches.

Search teams found 3-labeled decompression tanks with McDaniel's name on them, and a few articles of clothing near the entrance of the cave.

With the very little evidence, experts don't think McDaniel could have made it very far.

Holmes County Sheriff's officials aren't ruling anything out, extending their search on land and throughout the park.
"We've had cadaver dogs come to the scene, we've had helicopters, the Sheriff's posse has done a thorough search of the inside of the cave, and at this point in time we haven't had any indications" says Captain Harry Hamilton.

Green believes the mission is becoming too dangerous to continue deploying even expert divers.
"There's another scenario other than him being lost or hidden in this cave-- now what it is? That I don’t know."

Authorities say they will continue to investigate and are still holding out the hope they will bring closure to the case.

Sheriff's officials are considering the deployment of an underwater camera to maneuver the tight confines, not accessible to the divers.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I want to know what kind of camera they are going to use that will manuever itself where a person can't? A person can fit through a damned small restriction and all the ROVs I've seen are rigid, and bulky.

 

[SC_Hoaty]

Here is the rest of the article:

Also, the Video in KY_Bob's link has just a few additional words. No material facts to add.

 

[SC_Hoaty]

I want to know what kind of camera they are going to use that will manuever itself where a person can't? A person can fit through a damned small restriction and all the ROVs I've seen are rigid, and bulky.

Camera on a push-rod, manipulated by a cave-diver? ROV is just one deployment method, and probably not the best for this environment.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Camera on a push-rod, manipulated by a cave-diver?

That certainly would not gain them a whole lot beyond what have already seen though. It would also require a diver to dive the profile that allowed them to stay down that long (which may or may not be an issue).

 

[SC_Hoaty]

That certainly would not gain them a whole lot beyond what have already seen though. It would also require a diver to dive the profile that allowed them to stay down that long (which may or may not be an issue).

Agreed. Any method will entail logistical issues. These can be discussed, but is this the right place for such discussion?

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

I want to know what kind of camera they are going to use that will manuever itself where a person can't? A person can fit through a damned small restriction and all the ROVs I've seen are rigid, and bulky.

The Captain mentioned a camera to Edd and I while we did a little surface decompression afte our dive there. We offered to go retrieve said camera after it gets stuck for half its value

 

[ScubaSteve]

Agreed. Any method will entail logistical issues. These can be discussed, but is this the right place for such discussion?

If it pertains to this "situation" then sure.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Camera on a push-rod, manipulated by a cave-diver? ROV is just one deployment method, and probably not the best for this environment.

The last few hundred feet of lined cave there is incredibly tight and silty, so it'd have to be able to be pushed several hundred feet with twists, turns, ups and downs if a cave diver is going to have to manipulate it(and I suppose see whats actually going on in front of it)...

...and you'd still need a camera + housing rated for 160' that is small enough to push through the restrictions.