iamrushman
Contributor
great story with a happy ending....
Missing Cave Diver rescued after 2 days
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There is a nice thread on cdf about the rescue, now the story makes more sense.
This is a translation of the interview with the rescued diver, as posted on cdf:
Cave Diver's Forum
This is a translation of the interview with the rescued diver, as posted on cdf:
Cave Diver's Forum
tilikum
Banned
Unable to read the link.
I think that's because you're not registered. Anyway, this is the post by Michael F:
This is compliments of the translator on Google Chrome.
Francesc Gracia Llado: "I thought that six days had passed and I thought that they would not find me"
Being locked in a room and not being located is the worst nightmare of a diver, I thought a lot about my children and what had happened"
A hand injuries are the only physical evidence of the ordeal lived for more than 48 hours , locked in a cavity without being aware of the great operative trying to rescue him . With difficulty breathing , in the dark, without food or notion of the time elapsed, came to have visions. Already at home, says he will return to the cave despite the bad experience
-How are you?
"Well, I'm ready to do caving again," he laughs. It tastes bad for people who suffer , but well, once the problem has passed ...
"What happened to be trapped in the cave?"
"It all began with the breaking of the guidewire, something that never happens, is a strange thing. I started speleolobuceo in 1994 and had never had a case like that. I was with my partner Guillem Mascar?. I had gone to explore a number of galleries and he had gone to do topography of others. Many times each does his job and then we find ourselves at the entrance, but we agreed at one point and he approached me. There was zero visibility and I was shaking my head. A tip of rock had broken and broke the guide wire, which with the tension moved. We were locked in, unable to leave.
"And no air to return."
-Yes. When I realized I tried to install an emergency thread, to see if I felt I could find the other thread and do a bypass to solve it, but I did not, it was very difficult. There I wound my wrists in my hand, because I did not wear gloves. It took us a while to find the problem and we lost a lot of air. It is a very large complex , with a journey of six kilometers, a network supercomplicada. We went back to a room of air and we rethought the situation. With the air we had we could not go back to the outside.
"What was his plan to get out?"
-In the area where the incident occurred there is a variant, much longer, that allows you to connect and overcome the point where the thread broke. We looked at the bottles and we knew what to do. Guillem consumes less air because he is thinner and shorter, and he had to go back to warn him. He took his two bottles and mine in which there was still air and we pointed very well to the topography in which I was left so that other colleagues could locate it. Guillem came back and I stayed in that room.
-How is that place?
"It's a pretty big room." I knew it existed but I had never been. It is about a hundred meters long and about 40 or 50 wide, with many lakes on the sides. It was about 20 degrees and very wet. The problem is that the atmosphere is very charged with CO2, and you have a lot of difficulty breathing. It's so hard to be a couple of days breathing that.
"What did you do there for so long?"
"I had to do the least possible activity. Apart from eating the 'coconut', all I did was to survey the room to see if by chance there was a ground exit to the outside. I had the main focus practically exhausted and I had three auxiliary flashlights that I was using very little. Just to go to urinate in a corner, I took some of the neoprene and then I put it right away so I did not go into hypothermia. He was also going to get water from the lake. On the surface it is brackish, but quite sweet and can be drunk. The stone in which Guillem had left me was very uncomfortable, your feet were wet and it was only worth to stay awhile. I looked for a flat spot near the water, which was not easy because the rocks were complicated to climb, And once there I conditioned the site as much as possible and set milestones so as not to get lost in the room and quickly find the way to the place. Except to go to pee or fetch water, it was always dark.
"What was he thinking all that time about?" Were you afraid?
"You eat the coconut a lot." I thought a lot about the children [their nine-year-old daughter and her fifteen-year-old son] and why the incident had occurred, something that had never happened ... In the speleolobuceo we are accustomed to being alone, but staying in a room Terrestrial without being able to leave and that you do not find it is the worst nightmare for a diver.
"Did you think they would not find him?"
"I trusted Guillem, but I was not 100 percent sure. He did not know this gallery very well, he was afraid he would roll at some point or run out of air. I did not wear a watch and without any reference I did not know how much time had passed. I had the feeling that five or six days had passed. I could not sleep with that air, it was very distressing. You do not rest, you lose strength and calories ... In the end I thought they would not find me because Guillem could not leave and then the rest had to check all the rooms with air, a very complicated job. And I thought that maybe I was not going to get there or discard it because we already knew that I had a lot of carbon dioxide concentration.
- How was the moment in which they found it?
"Because of the vicious air I had seen visions, I seemed to see lights that were not there. I saw one that was beginning to appear, a noise of bubbles and I ran there in case it passed by. Bernat Clamor came out and it was a very exciting moment, we hugged and kissed. Knowing that they were coming for me gave me a lot of strength. He left me a sugary drink, I took it and he returned to warn.
And he had the strength to get out on his own foot.
"Yes, I had to dive an hour and a half to get out, but they brought me bottles with oxygen-enriched air. It was like charging the batteries. The way back I did quite well, there was good visibility. Upon reaching the surface I hit like a basin, had 32 degrees of body temperature and took me to Son Espases. I've had a lot of tests and I slept with an oxygen mask.
"How much could I have endured under these conditions?"
-The problem is mostly mental, if you are not clear if they are going to come and look for you and believe that six days have passed ...
- Will you go back to practice speleolobuceo?
-Yes. It's an important part of my life. It had been a big scare, had had problems, but not like this. More than fear I have always had respect, you know that you have to take the precautions. I have learned a lot.
This is compliments of the translator on Google Chrome.
Francesc Gracia Llado: "I thought that six days had passed and I thought that they would not find me"
Being locked in a room and not being located is the worst nightmare of a diver, I thought a lot about my children and what had happened"
A hand injuries are the only physical evidence of the ordeal lived for more than 48 hours , locked in a cavity without being aware of the great operative trying to rescue him . With difficulty breathing , in the dark, without food or notion of the time elapsed, came to have visions. Already at home, says he will return to the cave despite the bad experience
-How are you?
"Well, I'm ready to do caving again," he laughs. It tastes bad for people who suffer , but well, once the problem has passed ...
"What happened to be trapped in the cave?"
"It all began with the breaking of the guidewire, something that never happens, is a strange thing. I started speleolobuceo in 1994 and had never had a case like that. I was with my partner Guillem Mascar?. I had gone to explore a number of galleries and he had gone to do topography of others. Many times each does his job and then we find ourselves at the entrance, but we agreed at one point and he approached me. There was zero visibility and I was shaking my head. A tip of rock had broken and broke the guide wire, which with the tension moved. We were locked in, unable to leave.
"And no air to return."
-Yes. When I realized I tried to install an emergency thread, to see if I felt I could find the other thread and do a bypass to solve it, but I did not, it was very difficult. There I wound my wrists in my hand, because I did not wear gloves. It took us a while to find the problem and we lost a lot of air. It is a very large complex , with a journey of six kilometers, a network supercomplicada. We went back to a room of air and we rethought the situation. With the air we had we could not go back to the outside.
"What was his plan to get out?"
-In the area where the incident occurred there is a variant, much longer, that allows you to connect and overcome the point where the thread broke. We looked at the bottles and we knew what to do. Guillem consumes less air because he is thinner and shorter, and he had to go back to warn him. He took his two bottles and mine in which there was still air and we pointed very well to the topography in which I was left so that other colleagues could locate it. Guillem came back and I stayed in that room.
-How is that place?
"It's a pretty big room." I knew it existed but I had never been. It is about a hundred meters long and about 40 or 50 wide, with many lakes on the sides. It was about 20 degrees and very wet. The problem is that the atmosphere is very charged with CO2, and you have a lot of difficulty breathing. It's so hard to be a couple of days breathing that.
"What did you do there for so long?"
"I had to do the least possible activity. Apart from eating the 'coconut', all I did was to survey the room to see if by chance there was a ground exit to the outside. I had the main focus practically exhausted and I had three auxiliary flashlights that I was using very little. Just to go to urinate in a corner, I took some of the neoprene and then I put it right away so I did not go into hypothermia. He was also going to get water from the lake. On the surface it is brackish, but quite sweet and can be drunk. The stone in which Guillem had left me was very uncomfortable, your feet were wet and it was only worth to stay awhile. I looked for a flat spot near the water, which was not easy because the rocks were complicated to climb, And once there I conditioned the site as much as possible and set milestones so as not to get lost in the room and quickly find the way to the place. Except to go to pee or fetch water, it was always dark.
"What was he thinking all that time about?" Were you afraid?
"You eat the coconut a lot." I thought a lot about the children [their nine-year-old daughter and her fifteen-year-old son] and why the incident had occurred, something that had never happened ... In the speleolobuceo we are accustomed to being alone, but staying in a room Terrestrial without being able to leave and that you do not find it is the worst nightmare for a diver.
"Did you think they would not find him?"
"I trusted Guillem, but I was not 100 percent sure. He did not know this gallery very well, he was afraid he would roll at some point or run out of air. I did not wear a watch and without any reference I did not know how much time had passed. I had the feeling that five or six days had passed. I could not sleep with that air, it was very distressing. You do not rest, you lose strength and calories ... In the end I thought they would not find me because Guillem could not leave and then the rest had to check all the rooms with air, a very complicated job. And I thought that maybe I was not going to get there or discard it because we already knew that I had a lot of carbon dioxide concentration.
- How was the moment in which they found it?
"Because of the vicious air I had seen visions, I seemed to see lights that were not there. I saw one that was beginning to appear, a noise of bubbles and I ran there in case it passed by. Bernat Clamor came out and it was a very exciting moment, we hugged and kissed. Knowing that they were coming for me gave me a lot of strength. He left me a sugary drink, I took it and he returned to warn.
And he had the strength to get out on his own foot.
"Yes, I had to dive an hour and a half to get out, but they brought me bottles with oxygen-enriched air. It was like charging the batteries. The way back I did quite well, there was good visibility. Upon reaching the surface I hit like a basin, had 32 degrees of body temperature and took me to Son Espases. I've had a lot of tests and I slept with an oxygen mask.
"How much could I have endured under these conditions?"
-The problem is mostly mental, if you are not clear if they are going to come and look for you and believe that six days have passed ...
- Will you go back to practice speleolobuceo?
-Yes. It's an important part of my life. It had been a big scare, had had problems, but not like this. More than fear I have always had respect, you know that you have to take the precautions. I have learned a lot.
KevinNM
Contributor
Minor update: Very short clip of the rescue here: https://t.co/4rBjSyW06i
I am in awe.
Very cool!
That is amazing... What a great story!
Ayisha
Contributor
What an interesting and trusting idea to let one person with the lowest SAC but less knowledge of the complicated passages leave with all the remaining gas to have the best chance of initiating a rescue as quickly as possible. Especially not knowing how long the air source would last or how long it would support life for. It sounded like everyone was calm, cool and collected. They are so lucky that they had passed that room and could get back to it.
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