News of another cave (diving) rescue underway...
Begin forwarded message:
From: Kevin Shaw <kevins...@gmail.com>
Date: October 7, 2010 8:59:36 AM EDT
To: memb...@bostongrotto.org
Subject: Re: [erncrc] Cave diving rescue in France
In case others have been trying to follow this. Rescue teams are
currently theorizing/hoping he's trapped in an air pocket (based on
a found scooter) and are attempting to dig from the surface. All of
the articles are in French, but this one has a pretty graphic:
http://bigbrowser.blog.lemonde.fr/2010/10/07/visuel-les-operations-de-sauvetage-du-speleologue-en-ardeche-le-parisien/
On Mon, Oct 4, 2010 at 6:39 PM, <caverst...@aol.com> wrote:
In a message dated 10/4/2010 4:32:32 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, ydr...@rosettastone.com
writes:
Hi all,
Eric Establie, a French cave diver who left on a difficult
exporation dive Sunday morning (French time = + 5 hours from our
Eastern US time), has not returned. The cave (Dragonnière de Gaud
near Labastide de Virac, in the Ardèche region, France) is a
difficult cave, with depth requiring decompressions, a yo-yo
profile, muddy walls and floors that can degrade visibility. Eric
was planning on pursuing exploration at the current end, 1040 meters
inside the cave, at -42 m depth, but behind two low spots at -87 and
-70 meters. His dive was to last 6 hours. He carried two
rebreathers, two scooters, and five air tanks, plus 450 meters of
dive line.
An attempt to find Eric, made on Sunday evening to the -53 m level
(a fixed line leads to this decompression station), was
unsuccessful. Another attempt was being made this afternoon to the
-87 m low spot. Special diving teams with experience in difficult
dives, one from Great Britain (Rick Staunton, John Volanthen, and
one more) and one from Switzerland (Pedro, André, Hans, Gigi), are
flying to France this evening to help with the rescue tomorrow
morning.
There is hope that Eric is waiting in an air bell or between two
sumps. Hang in there, Eric.
Yvonne Droms
