Author: Pete Allwright, Hon Secretary,
BCRC; Photos: John Forder.
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Typical Causes of Rescues Underground
There are a number of causes that require action from cave rescue
and mines rescue teams.
Explorers, and others, may become lost or may be late in returning to the
surface. For a party venturing underground, it is always a wise precaution to
tell a responsible person of your intended trip and the time you intend to
complete the trip. In the event that you become overdue, that person can
initiate rescue action.
An equal cause for cave rescue action is a caver suffering a fall of one form or
another. These can range from a slip on slippery boulders in a passage to a fall of
a great distance - and maybe over 100 metres - in which the casualty can suffer
critical injuries.
Other significant causes are:
o
incidents where a caver becomes exhausted and requires assistance
o
incidents involving flooding
in stream caves, where heavy rain can result in water levels rising and causing
a passage to become impassable
o
rockfalls causing cavers to be entrapped
o
cavers becoming physically
trapped in small passages
You can read more on the causes of rescues in the incident reports
on this web site.
Although the primary task of cave rescue teams has always been to
search for and rescue those in distress underground, over the years additional
tasks have been undertaken. Notably, at the request of the
police, underground searches have been made outside the customary remit of
cave rescue either for missing persons or, on occasions, for such as searching
for discarded murder weapons. In addition, the rescue of animals that have
become trapped in cave or mine shafts has become an increasing feature of many
team’s work.
How a Cave Rescue is Initiated
If you need the
assistance of a cave rescue team you should dial 999 and ask the police
then for Cave Rescue.
A call for cave rescue assistance is made through the 999
emergency system. You will be routed to the police and onto the Cave Rescue
service that will handle the incident.
Action Taken by the Police
The police will want to take your name and the telephone number
from which you are calling. They will then ask you to stay by that
telephone.
The police will the contact a controller or warden from the rescue
team that will undertake the rescue. Your name and phone number will be passed
on.
The warden or controller WILL
call you back on that phone to ascertain as much detail of the incident and to
determine what course of action is to be taken. Please be patient and pass on
as much detail as you can.
Users of mobile phones should be aware that the controller/warden
will phone back and thus be aware of low phone batteries or other problems
associated with mobile phones.
Action Taken by the Warden/Controller
The action taken will depend on the information received.
It could range from asking the police to locate the vehicles of a
missing party through to initiating a major callout of the rescue team.
When the rescue team is deployed, each team has its own callout
system. Some - the busier teams - may use a pager system whilst other will do a
telephone call to find and deploy personnel.
In any event, the team members will be contacted and will make
their way to the site of the incident at a designated rendezvous point.
Problems with the 999 System
With the rise of both mobile phone and with the centralisation of
the 999 landline system, we have occasionally encountered problems with
callouts being sent to the wrong place. Cave Rescues do not happen very often -
in recent years there has been less than one a week. So the handling centres
may well be unfamiliar with the procedure.
The call centre should direct your request for cave rescue
assistance to the police force in which the incident has happened. You can
expedite this in the case of problems by knowing where your callout should be
routed. You can see the team list page for this information.
What Happens when a Rescue Team is Contacted
With the decision to deploy the rescue team, a number of further decisions
have to be made. Included in these is how many people to call, what
specialisation of expertise is required, what equipment is required, is support
from the fire brigade required, what ambulance service and police support is
required. In essence, the warden/controller will, with the co-operation and
supervision of the police, direct the rescue from the point of contact by the
police to completion of the rescue.
The team callout will be initiated. Modern technology may be used
mainly in the form of pagers, but most cave rescue teams make the callout by
telephone. A callout list is maintained and will be used in such cases.
The team equipment will be deployed to the site of the incident.
One or two of the rescue team members contacted will fetch the appropriate
equipment from the store used by the team. Some teams have rescue vehicles -
often 4-wheel drive off-road Landrovers - equipped ready to go, so deployment
of equipment will be expedited.
The controller/warden may ask for other statutory services to
attend. This may occur for example in flooding situations. And Mountain Rescue
teams may be asked to assist where the cave or mine is remote, or where radio
communication may be required.
Exactly who arrives at the rendezvous and at what time depends on
many factors - the locations, the difficulties of access, the weather...
A controller/warden will arrive quite early in the proceedings. He
or she will take overall control at the site for the duration. This
controller/warden may or may not be that warden contacted by the police. He or
she will want to talk to the contact who initiated the call if at all
possible. It will be necessary to get further details of the problem -
injuries, detailed location, when the accident occurred and so forth.
Whether the police will attend an incident will depend on local
policy, and on the nature of the incident. They will always attend when a
fatality is involved, and will usually attend when serious injuries are
reported. Quite often in other situations, the police will be in attendance
should the rescue continue beyond a short period as the situation becomes more
serious. In essence, the police over the years have built up a great trust in
the ability and management of cave rescues by the cave rescue teams and simply
allow them to get on with it.
Arrival of the team equipment and arrival of the team will happen
sometime after the callout - how long this take will depend on the distances
and on the type of roads to get to the rendezvous. Quite often we have narrow,
twisting lanes to negotiate.
At the scene, the controller/warden will decide a plan of action
and brief the rescue team members. Some examples of rescues are outlined below.
The following paragraphs describe some of
the rescue scenarios undertaken in Great Britain.
A Search for Overdue Cavers
When the callout is made, the controller/warden will have
evaluated the situation. In some incidents, we have an idea where the missing
party may be; in others we may be told a party has gone caving 'somewhere in Derbyshire’ (say). In the
latter case, some considerable detective work may be involved before
underground teams are deployed in over one thousand possible underground sites.
Eventually, the warden/controller will elect to deploy a search
party or parties. These will be given instructions to search an area of a cave
system, or to follow a particular route through a cave looking for the missing
party. In large system where there are known places where people become lost,
these may well be the first place to be searched. It is quite possible search
parties will be dispatched to more than one cave.
Quite often, a missing party will be found quickly; it is not
unknown to meet them on or near the surface, the cavers having under-estimated
the length of time required for the trip, or possibly having had difficulty in
finding the way through.
Most other overdue parties are found on or near regular spots or
on or near the 'trade routes' through the caves. Such parties are fed and
warmed, then assisted back to the surface. These rescues do not take too long
provided the party is fit enough to get themselves out with assistance, as is
often the case.
If after searching the trade routes the missing cavers so remain,
then the problem intensifies. At this point, it is likely more personnel will
be called in. Additional investigations will be undertaken to ensure the cavers
are actually in the cave, whilst further searches are planned.
From then on, more searches will be carried out. Hours can turn
into days. Some of the British cave systems contain over 50 kilometres of
inter-linked passages, often forming a three dimensional maze. So the planning
of the search and the debriefing of teams completing their task becomes of
paramount importance.
And clearly as time goes on, the physical condition of the missing
party will deteriorate.
But it is extremely rare for a missing party not to be found. And
when they are found, they will receive medical assistance and brought to the
surface.
A Caver Has Fallen
When a call comes for a caver who had slipped or fallen, the
rescue team knows that they could well be dealing with an injured caver. If a
doctor is available, he or she may well be contacted in the early stages.
(Note that many cave and mountain rescue
teams include doctors on the strength and they may well take on the role of the
doctor at the scene, but equally they may be called up as a member of the
normal team strength.)
The team will deploy to the site of the accident, and medical and
associated equipment will be shipped to the site of the incident. This could be
a considerable distance underground and require difficult caving to get there.
Cavers are used to travelling 'light' - they will take minimum equipment to
complete a cave safely. In a rescue, not only do you have such personal
equipment to carry, but you have the rescue kit as well. In most cases, a
rescue team will wish to re-equip a cave since a failure of the party’s
equipment may have been the cause of the fall.
The first party to arrive at the site of the accident will
assess the casualty. Remember the accident will have occurred some considerable
time ago - and often well past the Golden Hour defined in paramedic circles. So
the casualty will not only be suffering from injuries sustained in the fall,
but will be cold and possibly be hypothermic. Casualty care type first aid will
be given - this will include pain relief, splinting, dealing with bleeding,
insulation from the cold and many other aspects of care.
In less severe falls, the casualty will be encouraged to make his
own way out of the cave - often with considerable assistance from the rescue
team over and around the obstacles in the cave. This is very much the preferred
option since it will hasten the casualty's return to the surface and to
hospital quality medical care. And in some of the most difficult and remote
caves assisted evacuation the
only option because you cannot use a stretcher.
In many cases however, it will be necessary to carry the casualty
out in a stretcher. This occurs particularly in the case of head, neck or
spinal injuries where the dangers of further, irreparable damage may occur.
Cave rescue teams have an excellent record in dealing with such injuries. In
the event, a stretcher carry is a difficult and arduous job, potentially taking
many hours. Look at the section describing the obstacles we encounter in the
section below.
During the evacuation, it is vital to monitor the state of the
casualty in an attempt to prevent deterioration of the casualty’s condition.
Frequent short rests will occur whilst the team arranges the next section of
the cave.
During this time, regular communications with the surface will be
made. Reports on the condition of the casualty will help the controllers decide
on deploying further teams and equipment.
Cave rescue teams are extremely grateful
to the ambulance paramedics that assume responsibility for the casualty on the
surface, and also for the services of the Royal Air Force rescue
helicopter, to which several cavers owe their lives.
A Party is Trapped by Flooding
Many caves are formed along stream passages that have
disappeared underground in limestone regions. Such passages offer an exiting
and exhilarating days entertainment for fit and adventurous cavers. But many
such stream passages will become impassable with the onset of heavy rain on the
surface. In the event, a party may have great difficulty making their way out,
becoming exhausted in the process, or may even become trapped.
Rescue teams will be familiar with the caves in their region and
may well know of bypasses to the difficult sections of caves, and would thus be
able to reach a trapped party and guide them out. They may be able to arrange
ropes in a different way to avoid the worst of a flooded passage and again
rescue the party.
If these options fail, the party may well remain trapped. In such
cases, rescue experts will assess the problem and the options - can the flooded
stream be diverted or dammed, can sufficient water be pumped away, can cave divers
get to the missing party
Sometimes the only option is to await the flood to subside.
Eventually, a rescue party will be able to get into the
cave and locate the party. They will be given food and warm drinks and,
hopefully, will be able to make their own way out. It is unusual for members of
a flooded party to be stretcher cases, although it may take considerable
effort of the rescue team to assist an exhausted party to the surface.
A Rockfall Has Occurred
Caves are living entities containing exciting streams and rivers,
stalactites and stalagmites that grow at varying rates, mud and silt banks that
are moved with floodwater, and rocks. Sometimes the rocks will move or
collapse, possibly falling some distance. It has not been unknown for small
earthquakes to cause rock falls underground.
Loose rocks resulting from breakdown activity may be dislodged and
fall upon a passing caving party. Whilst uncommon, this is not a very rare
event and can cause serious injuries to a caver.
Cavers passing through such unstable areas may dislodge boulders
causing a rock fall and trapping the cavers. This is an extremely rare event.
Parties trapped on the wrong side of a rockfall may well have a
considerable wait before the alarm is raised. The cave rescue team will respond
according to the description above. Whilst searching, they will inevitably find
the rockfall, and may be able to contact the missing party through the rocks.
If not contact is made the controllers/wardens will have to decide whether the
party is trapped.
The extent of the rockfall and the problem to extract the missing
party will be judged. Equipment will be transported into the cave to facilitate
the engineering of a route through the fall. This will include spades, crowbars
and the like, together with scaffolding and shoring as appropriate. The team
will then dig their way through, scaffolding and shoring as appropriate as
progress is made. Sometimes rock splitting techniques will be used in this
process.
Eventually a way through will be engineered and the party rescued.
They may well be cold and exhausted, but will normally be able make their own
way out. Hypothermic victims will need carrying out thus making for a lengthily
and difficult rescue.
Underground rescue has its own unique set of problems. Obstacles
such as vertical shafts and climbs often with waterfalls, constricted and
twisting passages and squeezes, static and flowing water sometimes completely
flooding a passage, mud, loose rock, foul air, route finding and communications
problems abound as, of course, does absolute darkness. Caving is a continually
developing sport and each year, new underground systems and passages are
discovered and explored providing additional challenges for the rescue teams
who must be prepared to go wherever it is necessary to search for missing
cavers and recover casualties. Rescue from such an environment requires
techniques that are often unique to cave rescue teams and with which other
rescue services are normally unfamiliar. In essence cave rescue is a service by
cave and mine explorers to other cave and mine explorers who, for whatever
reason, require help.
Vertical Shafts and Climbs
Moving a casualty through a cave presents many obstacles, but one
of the most difficult are the vertical shafts and climbs encountered in most
caves.
It may well be possible to manoeuvre a stretcher up a small
climb using raw muscle power.
But inevitably, it will be necessary to arrange a hauling system to
raise the casualty, not least to ensure their comfort and safety in the lift.
This requires ropes, pulleys and other devices to be put in place. To do this
correctly requires great skill and experience - a badly rigged haul will
usually be difficult and may well be dangerous. The first objective is to
ensure the safety of all concerned - this includes the casualty and the rescue
team.
Sometimes the rigging of such hauling systems must take account
the number of people available - pulleys and special systems will implement a
2:1, or possibly a 3:1 ratio to reduce the load to be lifted. The setup must
also allow for the shaft up which the casualty is to be raised. Often such a
shaft may be roomy at the bottom, but as it nears the top will become narrow and
twisting. Indeed it may well not be possible to lift the stretcher up
vertically when it becomes necessary to move it into the widest part of the
shaft.
Constricted and Twisting Passages
Many British caves begin as small, sometimes flat-out
crawls and develop through gradually larger passages into the big passage that
appears on many a Hollywood movie. Such passages are easy to negotiate for a
fit, strong caver. But bringing an injured casualty back is fraught with
problems.
In the first instance, a rescue party will need to reach the site
of the accident. They must transport equipment to the site - getting first aid,
stretchers, exposure management, communications and other necessary equipment
presents significant problems.
The casualty may then need carrying back to the surface.
In the larger passages, many cave rescue teams will use a rigid
stretcher - this is easier to carry and offers greater protection to the
casualty.
But as the passages become difficult may not be possible to
manoeuvre a rigid stretcher around the twists and turns. In this case we have
two choices - either use a flexible stretcher or move the casualty out of
the stretcher. A flexible stretcher, often known as a drag stretcher, offers
less bulk and will allow some movement in the narrow passages meaning that the
stretcher can be forced through.
This is not always an elegant process and some brute force and ignorance may
come into play.
In the event that even the drag stretcher will not go
through, then the casualty will be pulled through difficult or constricted
passage outside the stretcher. To aid these cases, the casualty is
often placed in a harness so that a pull can be given from in front, and
as much protection as can be afforded is used.
Static and Flowing Water
Inevitably there will be water in a British cave. The water can be
flowing as a streamway or just standing water.
A streamway presents many hazards - and particularly so if water
conditions are high. The passage size of the streamway can range from a large,
walking passage to a low wet crawl. A rescue team struggling to carry an
injured caver carefully may have to contend with concealed ledges and boulders,
and the force of the water pushing them over. In lower passages, rescuers will
have to crawl through the water to move the stretcher along. They will lie in
the water and drag the stretcher over their legs or bodies to keep the casualty
out of the cold water as best possible. And the passage can twist and turn as
described under the previous heading.
Standing water presents different problems. But these are not
usually as difficult as flowing water. It only becomes a serious problem when
it forms deep pools. Just how these are handled will depend on the length and
depth. The rescue team will attempt to avoid such obstacles in the first place.
But if this is not possible, then a way of negotiating will be required. This
may include using ropes assist the stretcher across, using inflatable boats or
other floatation aids, or simply but crudely having members of the rescue team
stand in the water and man-handle the stretcher across.
Mud and Loose Rock
From time to time, such areas of unstable areas of cave breakdown
will move - an small earthquake can precipitate this. This may result in
previously open routes becoming obstructed. Cavers may as a result be trapped
on the far side unable to return to the surface – this was discussed above.
When faced with loose rocks a rescue team will take extreme
precautions. If we need to extract a party, then the first thought is to find a
safe alternate route. This is often not possible.
A team facing the need to dig their way through a collapsed
boulder choke will used mining techniques, shoring upon excavated passage as it
goes. Large boulders may need breaking, when 'feathers' or explosives may be
used. Feathers are a means of forcing a number of chisel devices into drilled
holes stressing the rock until it splits.
But bringing an injured casualty back through such an area of a
caver is fraught with hazards. It is the equivalent to manoeuvring through the
narrow and constricted passage outlined above - only the passage may collapse
on you! Rescue teams report this is a rare problem.
Complex Cave Systems
Some of Britain's caves contain over 50 kilometres of passages
interwoven in a three-dimensional maze. It is not uncommon for caving parties
to be reported missing after trips into these caves. So how does a cave rescue
team go about these incidents?
Well, many such incidents are caused by parties under-estimating
the difficulty of the trip and therefore under-estimating the time. These
parties will be found on or very close to the surface.
Otherwise, the rescue team will carry out searches of what are
called the trade routes through a
cave- the routes most often used by visiting parties. It is usual for such
parties to indicate where they are going in the cave helping the team narrow
the search area in the first instance. And many are found on or close to such
routes having been unable to find the way on.
Once the trade routes have been checked, then we have a much more
serious problem on our hands. A search of all the relevant trade routes will
have taken many hours and will have exhausted a portion of the rescue team. A
search plan will be evolved based on the known plans of the party, the
knowledge of the cave by the team, likely scenarios that may have caused a
change of plan, and any other influencing the problem.
Further cave rescue members and members of other nearby teams may
be called in. It is also possible that cavers from the clubs or have
specialised knowledge of that particular cave will be called in to assist.
Searching will then continue until the missing party is found. Such searches
have been known to take many days.
Clearing up and cleaning the
equipment
After the casualty has been handed over to the ambulance, then the
final stages of the rescue have been reached.
All personnel and equipment deployed in the cave must reach the
surface. On large rescues, this could be a considerable exercise and take
almost as long as the casualty evacuation itself and carries on after the
casualty has been handed over.
All equipment must then be returned to the rescue depot or
headquarters. It will then need cleaning and checking, and consumable items
will need replacing. Often, with the extreme conditions in cave rescue, some
equipment will be destroyed or broken beyond repair. This must be replaced as
soon as possible, and indeed the busier teams will carry spare equipment in
case of breakages.
Debriefing and Reporting
Often a team will debrief following an incident. From this,
lessons will be drawn and applied to future incidents.
The team will submit an incident report to the BCRC – this is used
to compile the Incident Report. These can be studied on the web site.
Contacts with the police
Exactly how much contact with the police depends on the cause of
the rescue?
Usually, relatives or contacts of casualties must be informed.
This may require inter-constabulary contacts if the relatives are outside the
area of the rescue.
The relatives themselves may come to the scene, a situation that
requires careful handling by both the police and by the rescue team.
If a fatality occurs, then the police will always be involved and
will want to take witness statements from team members and members of the
caving party.
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