Thai cave hero called in after SA diving tragedy
The Australian doctor who led the successful rescue of 12 boys trapped in a Thai cave is expected to join a team of specialists to retrieve the body of a diver who drowned in the state’s South-East.
The Australian doctor who led the successful rescue of 12 boys trapped in a Thai cave will be part of the team to recover the body of a Victorian man after a weekend tragedy.
The 65-year-old Victorian drowned in Tank Cave at Tantanoola, on the state’s Limestone Coast, at the weekend.
Tank Cave and the associated Green Waterhole system are about about 25 kilometres from Mount Gambier. They are SA’s longest underwater cave system, and the second-longest in Australia, with about 10 kilometres of intersecting passages.
The system – one of dozens in the region – has been explored for decades, with new passages and connections continuing to be discovered.
Police were called to the caves on Sunday morning after reports a man had drowned. They confirmed his death, and planning began with officers from the water operations unit to recover the man’s body.
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Superintendent Trent Cox said the scene was guarded overnight.
“It was impossible to undertake a recovery operation yesterday,” he told ABC radio on Monday.
“The nature of the cave system means it needs specialist dive resources that the CDAA provide.
“I understand a crew of around six specialist cave divers, including Dr Richard Harris, are making their way to the scene. They’ll liaise with our water operations divers there and coordinate the retrieval effort.”
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Friends Craig Challen and Richard Harris after the successful the Thai rescue mission.
The Cave Divers Association of Australia controls access to the caving network, which is also used for advanced-level cave-diver training.
Harris, a retired anaesthetist, was pivotal in saving the 12 boys of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach from the flooded 4.7-kilometre Tham Luang cave system in northern Thailand in 2018. The group had been trapped for nearly three weeks when Harris and his dive buddy from Western Australia, Craig Challen, led the complicated rescue to bring them back to safety.
Cox told the ABC that recovering the Victorian man’s body from Tank Cave would be “incredibly complex”, and “may not be successfully completed today”.
“Given the labyrinth-like structures underground that typify this cave system, it’ll require, from what I understand, multiple dives,” he said.
“They’ll deposit air supplies on the way to the location — I don’t think it’s going to be conducted in one fell swoop.”
The Cave Divers Association of Australia confirmed the tragedy in a post on its Facebook page on Sunday.
“Emergency services crews are on site and liaising with the CDAA. No further details are available at this time and updates will be made as new information comes to light,” it said.
“Out of respect for any individuals who may be involved (and their families), please avoid speculation at this difficult time while the police and emergency services conduct their work.”
A report will be prepared for the state coroner.
