Cave without a name

The San Antonio Express-News has a nice article about the restoration of Cave Without a Name.

"Using toothbrushes, sponges and their own gloved hands, the geology club from the University of Texas at San Antonio spent Saturday stripping away the grime, revealing rock formations that have not been visible for decades.

"The work is painstaking: Two people working together might uncover only 3 feet in a day.

"It's a good way to spend your days, helping this place get better," Edith Flores said, using a headlamp to illuminate the cave's floor as she worked."

Nice work, guys! Let the rest of us know when you're planning a work day and we'll organize some help.

Cave deaths in St. Paul

"Three teenagers died and another was hospitalized Tuesday after they were overcome by carbon monoxide while exploring a cave near Plato Boulevard and Wabasha Street on St. Paul's West Side.

A fifth teenager walked out of the cave on his own, complaining of dizziness, and called the St. Paul Fire Department about 4:20 p.m. to report his friends were still inside the cave."
Link

Rescue in Washington state

Here's a brief news story about a caving accident in North Spokane, Washington:

"A Whitworth student is safe after she fell 30 feet into a cave Saturday afternoon.

"Kim Allard, 20, and her friends had been exploring caves in North Spokane, near Wandermere and Dartford Roads. The group had been repelling down into the cave. The entrance to the cave was extremely narrow, and witnesses say it is amazing they made it in the first place. However, getting out proved to be a tougher challenge. The group repelled in and when Kim's turn came, her gear failed and she fell down the vertical wall. Allard couldn't climb out herself, and friends called for help. A paramedic repelled down into the cave, stabilized the girl and helped lift her out. She was in the cave for about an hour.

"Allard has a broken leg, most likely her tibia, and she is pretty banged up, but otherwise okay."

Cave deaths in Indonesia

I was waiting to see if there might be more information forthcoming on this, but so far there are no more details, except this brief report.

"Two nature lovers identified as Sofyan M Nur,33, and Hariono,33, from Indonesia`s district of Tangerang, Banten province were found dead in Gudawang cave, Cigudeg sub-district, Bogor district, West Java, police said here on Thursday.

"Bodies of the victims were evacuated to Bogor PMI (Indonesian Red Cross) general hospital at 9.25 a.m. local time, the police said.

"Brigadier-II Agus of the Cigudeg police office confirmed the report on the death of the nature lovers. No Information on why they died but it was beileved that they were drowned. He asked the press to seek more information from the hospital."

Sad news

Mariano Fuentes Silva's body was found yesterday by rescue divers. Recovery of his body was expected to begin this morning.

The search continues

Here's the latest report on the ongoing rescue efforts in Oztoque. Cave divers from Austin and Quintana Roo have arrived and the assembled team has resumed diving to search for the missing caver, Mariano Fuentes Silva.

One caver still missing



Caving in Mexico has once again made international news. Previous accounts said four ill-equipped Mexican explorers were rescued from a cave near Mexico City. More recent reports say one caver from a party of four is still missing in San Jose Balvanera cave (Oztoque/Oztoquito) near Mexico City.

Correction and update: I originally thought this incident and the previous one might be the same, considering the wildly inaccurate reporting that has been known to happen. It is clear now that this is a different incident entirely. These were experienced cavers and cave divers, exploring an unmapped area of the cave they hoped would connect two separate entrances.

The Mexican newspaper El Sol de Puebla reports on the ongoing rescue effort and indicates that more expert assistance and equipment may be needed to speed up the rescue. A previous story in El Sol recounted the early stages of the incident and rescue.