A Spanish cave diver has defied the odds and managed to survive for 60 hours in an air pocket deep underground some 900 metres into a cave system in Mallorca.
Xisco Gracia had been diving with a buddy inside the system on Saturday 15 April when he began to have problems with his gas supply. Being an experienced cave diver, Garcia realised there was no way both of them could make their way out of the cave system on one set of kit, so his buddy went off on his own to seek assistance.
However, while his friend did manage to exit the cave and get help, it took over two days for the rescue teams to locate Garcia as visibility within the cave at 40m was described as ‘like cocoa’, leaving him sat alone in the dark breathing air so charged with carbon dioxide that he began to hallucinate.
He was eventually rescued at midnight on Monday, and was kept in hospital overnight as a precaution, but otherwise appeared to have escaped his ordeal unscathed.
