Two missing cave-divers have been extracted from a system in southern China after a search and rescue operation that lasted almost three days – and claimed as the nation’s first successful cave-diving rescue.
The men were part of a group of five marine biologists who had entered submerged karst caves to carry out research near the city of Baise in the mountainous Guangxi Zhuang region on 5 February. The caves lie at the source of the Huowang river.
During their exploration two of the divers lost contact with the others, who notified Baise police that they were missing at around 7pm.
A rescue team involving police, military, firefighters, paramedics and dive-club members carried out a 69-hour joint operation.
The 200m by 80m chamber at the entrance to the caves contained water to a depth of 15m and led into a maze of winding passages, so the rescue team had to disperse, laying guidelines in a number of directions.
Baise police told news agency Xinhua that the caves were characterised by intersecting folds and faults, a complex water system and surging underground rivers that posed “great challenges” to the rescuers, as did the poor underwater visibility.
Rescue divers reported being able to hear faint knocking sounds but could not tell from which direction they came.
Despite this, they succeeded in finding the first of the missing divers within the first four hours of the search, in the early hours of 6 February. He was located in an air-pocket at a depth of 16m, some 300m from the rescuers’ entry-point, and was brought out safely within 90 minutes.
The second diver, surnamed Zhou, was not however found until the early evening of 8 February. On the third day of the search the rescuers had expanded the search area and carried out at least 10 dives before finding Zhou in another air-pocket, this one 28m below the water surface and some 500m from the entry-point.
It took nearly two hours to extract the diver, who was described as extremely weak, but a medical examination at the local hospital showed his condition to be stable. “I was in great discomfort at the time and began to experience near-death hallucinations,” he told Xinhua later.
In October 2023 Han Ting, one of China’s best-known scuba divers, went missing in the deep Tianchuang flooded caves, also in the Guangxi Zhuang region, while attempting a live-streamed world-record depth dive in the system. His body was found four days later and later extracted using what was described as an underwater robot.
Also on Divernet: Body found in search for Chinese cave-diver
