hoehlenforscher
Active member
Was on the German news just now so my wife tells me, but I wasn't really watching so don't know any details.
On Saturday, 06.02.2021, a 57 year old caver died in the ?M?hlbachquellh?hle? in Bavaria/Germany near Dietfurt. This cave has several siphons and is more than 9 km long. (Infos and map on www.muehlbachquellhoehle.de)
The caver entered the cave saturday morning with 3 other cavers to install data loggers. They were on their way back to the entrance where they have to pass a short passage (about 6m) under water, so called ?Maulwurfsiphon?. This was done with a mask and a small compressed air cylinder. This siphon is about 700 m from the entrance. Three cavers had already passed the siphon but then the fourth person did not appear. They returned in the siphon and pulled the victim out. As he was not breathing and there was no heart-activity, they immediately started with the resuscitation. One caver run outside to call for help. Then the official rescue started at about 16:00 h. The resuscitation was done for about 3,5 hours and then terminated because there were no hope for life.
The victim were brought outside at about 22:00 h. More than 200 people were involved: Red cross, fire-fighters, water-rescue, technical support, mountain-rescue and also the bavarian cave-rescue as part of the mountain-rescue. About 40 cave-rescuers were directly involved.
The diving-commission from ECRA offered their help but it was not necessary.
The caving-community is mourning with the family of the victim.
Down and beyond said:Does anyone no any information about this 6m section is it notoriously difficult or anything ? I read that the team was very experienced.
You might well be right and this can obviously happen anywhere. A friend was on a trip to Poole Sink, when one of the group had a heart attack at the entrance as they were kitting up and sadly died. As above though, he died quickly (and one assumes fairly painlessly) doing what he loved, with him mates; I know that has helped others in dealing with the loss.mikem said:Sounds more like a heart attack than an issue with the cave.
mikem said:The first report says he was injured / stuck, but that may just be an assumption by reporters. The third says he drowned, the 2nd article more wisely avoids making any statements about what may have happened.
The silt kicked up in sumps often means you can't see anything (not even a powerful light) & the last thing you want is to meet someone coming the other way when you're trying to get out.
Above the rock, below mud, the water brown, completely opaque. Maybe he panicked, says Sch?ffel, maybe because dirt got into his breathing apparatus, the oxygen then blows straight into your face, maybe he lost the mask, couldn't find it again. Maybe he also had health problems. Of course, Sch?ffel doesn't know either