40 year accident recovery in Wales

[Kelly Jessop]

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wa...1466-26339614/

[sskasser]

Thanks Kelly, good find!

Posting the text here in case the link is later changed:

Body of cave diver recovered nearly 40 years on

Apr 29 2010 by Daniel Fisher, Western Mail

THE body of a young diver has been recovered from a Welsh cave after lying underground for nearly 40 years.
Cave diver Paul Heinz Esser died while exploring Porth yr Ogof Caves, Ystradfellte, Powys, on February 13, 1971.
He had been diving with three other trainees when he lost his safety line and became stranded in the cave, where he eventually drowned.
Although the 21-year-old’s body was located at the time, several attempts to recover it failed because of dangerous waters and problems with visibility.
But 39 years on, Mr Esser’s body has been recovered by the South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team, after a request from his surviving family.
Two divers recovered the remains last Thursday, which have stayed in virtually the same place since 1971.
It is understood Mr Esser’s mother had wanted to leave the body where it was, but after she and Mr Esser’s father died, the diver’s surviving family had asked for the body to be recovered.
Family members were present during the recovery operation.
The remains have been passed on to family undertakers for a burial.
It is understood Mr Esser will be buried alongside his parents.
Mr Esser, whose family lived in Surrey, was a medical student at Bristol University when he died.
Some cavers have returned each year since the accident to pay their respects to the student – who would have been 60 this year.
Jules Carter, chairman of South and Mid Wales Cave Rescue Team, said huge technological advances meant the recovery was relatively straightfor-ward.
He said: “We were asked by the police if we would help with the recovery and two of our most experienced divers took part in the operation, which they said prevented only a very mild risk to themselves.
“Paul Esser had been a very experienced open-water diver and was just moving into cave diving. It was a tragic accident.”
Mr Carter said advancements in technology meant that cave diving had moved on “massively” since the 1970s.
A police spokeswoman said: “It is a tragic story which goes back so far that no serving police officers can remember it.
“Mr Esser was located at the time but his body was never able to be recovered, despite several attempts over the following weeks.
“As a result, he has remained in the location he died.
“But his remains have now been brought out and released to his family so they can have a proper funeral.”
An inquest was held on Tuesday in which the coroner for Powys, Peter Maddox, returned a verdict of accidental death.
In modern caving, Porth yr Ogof holds the unenviable second place for the most number of deaths in a single cave in UK or Ireland.
Most of the tragedies have happened in an area known as the resurgence pool – but police said Mr Esser was not found there.
According to the UK Caves website, Porth-yr-Ogof is “an open access cave with several entrances and a very bad reputation for deaths”.
“The cave is very much overused by adventure groups. The main route follows the river which, in wet weather, flows into the main entrance, the largest entrance in Wales.
“Upstream inlets enter a complex divers-only area and to the right, inside the main area, a complex of passages bypasses a deep section in the main route.
“The water exit is the area that has claimed so many lives, being deep and cold with strong undercurrents.”

[AB8CD]

I am happy for their closure. As a minister working in law enforcement, I was called to every fatal in our area. I learned that the smallest act of kindness made such a difference to families. When I was introduced to family I would ask, "Are you Mom?" ...instead of Mrs. Smith. It made a nightmare situation just a bit more human and tolerable. A simple act of allowing the family to touch the body bag before it was placed in the back of an ambulance could change an aggressive family member into an appreciative one, which made everyone at the scene feel better.

[Neptuno]

amazing, but I think if I was the diver I would like to stay there after 40 years, but I guess the family has the right to be able to take him to a different place.

[Kelly Jessop]

http://www.xray-mag.com/en/content/b...early-40-years

[Duncan Price]

I must say that the press reports have over-dramatised the incident and have relied on whatever they could trawl up from previous media coverage or from a school-kid Google search on the topic.

Paul Esser lost his life while on a dive to remove excess guidelines within the cave. Unfortunately he was reeling in a line in the mistaken belief that it lead out of the cave. Esser was a very competant open water diver but with limited caving experienced and this fatality was a further incident involving non-cavers in UK cave diving which hardened the CDG's views against recruiting from outside the ranks of its own. It has taken another 30 years to reverse that position.

At the time of death his body was jammed in a tight passage at the base of a pot in the main underwater steam passage. Although attempts were made at the time to recover the body, it was feared that any attempt and moving it could cause it to be caught by the current and trap the rescuer. A bypass to the point at which his remains rested was subsequently found and the upstream passage explored to a conclusion.

It is a pity that this recovery attracted so much media attention. I'm sure that the recovery divers and family would have preferred more privacy. Unfortunately legal process required that an inquest was held and the media scan the public reports of these for news - hence the feature.

Edit: Having read the other news reports, I agree that at the time of death and considering the difficulty in recovering the body safely, the parents were justified in asking that he be allowed to remain where he died. I guess that now they are gone too, his siblings felt otherwise and perhaps approached the Police to maount a recovery operation. I don't know who the divers were, it cannot have been a pleasant task.

After Esser's death, a seat with a memorial plaque was placed outside the cave (it is a popular tourist spot). The seat occasionally needs repair/replacement. Cavers have tried to contact Esser's family about this in the past and drawn a blank. Evidently, more determined efforts on one side or the other re-established contact and resulted in this operation. I have not seen the remains for myself but I understand that divers who have visited the area report little more than a few bits of neoprene and some bones. I understand that his cylinders were recovered shortly after his death.

[FW]

Thanks Duncan. I was wondering if the recovery divers were Welsh Section members.

[Duncan Price]

Thanks Duncan. I was wondering if the recovery divers were Welsh Section members.

I haven't heard who the recovery divers were (there was a Welsh Section meeting on April 24). It was the CDG AGM & Dinner last weekend (at Wookey Hole Caves) - it was a big gathering of people to celebrate the book launch with guest speakers covering 5 decades of CDG activities. Despite the volcanic ash cloud disrupting some people's arrangements (the flight ban in UK airspace only being lifted a few days before), there was some international represantation.

Oliver Isler flew in from Switzerland and gave a keynote address. John Buxton sopoke on the 1950s, Brian Woodward spoke on the 1960s (a stand in for James Cobbett who was stuck in Panama), Geoff Yeadon described the '70s and Martyn Farr talked on the '80s. Dave Brock and Rick Stanton concluded with amusing talks on the last two decades.

If I do find out who did the job I'll PM you rather than let the whole world know. This is only the second successful recovery operation of a diver's remains some time after the sad events. I have mixed feelings about the whole venture but at least it finally brings closure to the family after such a long time. As, I said, it attracted the attention of the media - whereas I think that maybe the privacy of the family should have been respected.

Unfortunately the resurgence lake (which has low airspace, cold, deep water with trecherous undercuts and fallen trees) is a popular spot for ill-equipped visitors to swim through with predictable consequences. There are 9 memorial plaques at this entrance and warning signs for visitors to stay out. Several fatalities have involved outdoor groups rather than recreational cavers and the leader of the last trip where someone died was charged with manslaughter.