Croatian Mountain Rescue Service's rescue mission of the missing Slovenian diver inside the spring of the River Cetina
Short description of the mission
On Saturday afternoon of July 11th, 2009, Head of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service Station in Šibenik, Mr. Teo Barišić received information on a missing diver inside the spring of Cetina River. He than informed all necessary authorities as well as the Cavediving Rescue Group of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service. Knowing the morphology of the object there was a possibility that the missing diver was still alive if he was located in the shallow lateral canal which had exit to dry land. Helicopter of the Croatian Air Force was raised in the air which delivered speleodivers of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service to the location. Petronije Tasić from the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service Station in Split and Maksimilijan Babić from the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service Station in Makarska dived inside the spring at 20:30 hours in order to search the lateral canal at the depth of 20 meters. They searched the entire canal and entered its dry part and did not manage to find the missing Slovenian diver. In the meantime, Ivica Ćukušić and Robert Erhardt from the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service Station in Zagreb arrived at the spring of the River Cetina with additional equipment, containing mixer for gas mixtures, compressor …
On Sunday, July 12th, the first diving
pair continues the search in the other lateral canal at the depth of 40
meters, the place where the missing diver was last seen. Because of the
turbidity of the entire canal and the “bell”, where the location of the
missing diver was assumed, the search did not yield result. Dive lasted 85
minutes with the temperature of 8 degrees Celsius. Searching team was
exposed to hyperthermia and become saturated with internal gases, which
demanded a diving break in the duration of 24 hours between dives. Second
team searched the main canal, diving up to 80 meters of depth. The
assumption was that the victim, due to the increase in dept (return from the
“bell” from 20 to 40 meters of depth) and not switching to mixture NITROX
45, sustained oxygen epilepsy due to a considerable partial pressure. In
such a scenario, he could fall to the beginning of the slope, at 67 m in the
main canal. The canal was searched further down the slope up to the maximum
depth intended for gas mixtures which were previously prepared for this
dive, that is, up to 80 m of depth, but without results.
Because of the limit when diving in large depths and the acceleration of the
search, a call was made, after the last dive on Sunday, to the Unit for
Technical Diving of Civil protection of the Republic of Slovenia, to join
the search. After the call informing about the accident from Saturday
afternoon they were put in the state of readiness and placed at the disposal
of the Croatian team. In the last five years, a great cooperation was
developed through mutual trainings, therefore the rescue techniques and
procedures are exactly the same which in return considerably speeds up the
rescue mission. The arrival of four members of the Unit and their two
assistants was expected. During Sunday two more cavedivers from the Croatian
Mountain Rescue Service joined the search: Igor Markanjević from the
Croatian Mountain Rescue Service Station in Rijeka and Vedran Jalžić from
the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service Station in Zagreb. At the same time,
the search plan for next dives was formed and bottles with gas mixtures
prepared.
Location where body was found. Topo: plongeesout.com
On Monday, July 13th, early in the
morning, the search was continued. First diving pair, Petronije Tasić and
Igor Markanjević found the body of the missing diver at 08:30 at the depth
of 20,5 meters at the top of the “bell“ at the entrance in the lateral canal
at 40 meters of depth. The body was marked so that the next team could begin
to retreat the body.
Other diving pair, Vedran Jalžić and Robert Erhardt reached the body,
lowered it to the depth of 40 meters and transferred it to the main canal
from where it was carried out to the surface. Recovering actions like this
one are in general extremely dangerous, but our rescuers managed to extract
the body to the surface in one dive.
Instead of a conclusion
Based on the gathered data we would like to focus on several mistakes made
by the aforementioned team. Reason why we are concentrating on these
mistakes is an opportunity to learning a lesson from this unfortunate
accident.
This unfortunately cannot diminish the tragedy, but we can learn from it and
possibly even save a human life.
Possible mistakes that lead to the accident (base on the gathered data):
1. Diving without previously acquired speleodiving education is probably the
first mistake in a long row of mistakes. Regardless of the vast experience
of diving at sea (most of them are diving instructors), diving in
underground objects demands special education.
2. None from the group had dived in the stated object before; nevertheless
the first dive was planed in the large depth (first at 110, and second at 87
m).
3. They did not study the map of the underground object in order to learn
the layout of the lateral canals (which is easily accessible at the
internet).
4. On such complicated trips like this one it is not advisable to carry a
huge underwater camera with large source of light because it is an
additional burden.
5. They did not pull the new Ariadne's thread but trusted that the old one
which had been previously fixed there would not break. Often, to the
inexperienced divers, it is less complicated and less dangerous to just
follow the thread that has been previously placed there than to place their
own, but in this particular case the placing of their own thread would most
likely avoid the incident.
6. When they used the old thread at crossings they forgot to mark the
direction of exit with plastic arrows which is an integral part of every
speleodiver’s equipment.
7. After getting caught in the “bell” of the lateral canal, due to
inexperience, the victim did not use its Ariadne's thread which he carried
on his harness neatly folded in order to escape the canal.
8. Diving without permit and without previous notice in a protected
underground object is a violation of the law or the Republic of Croatia.
Although the obtaining of such licence does not directly affect the safety
of diving, it can speed up the process of rescuing.
In the end, we can mention that the spring of the river Cetina is probably
one of the most beautiful springs in our country and as such it attracts a
large number cavedivers (most of them dive illegally). Aside from its beauty,
the spring is popular because it can be easily accessed by a car and because
it is very deep. This is exactly where the danger lies and it is a miracle,
considering the large number of dives, that similar incidents did not
happened before.
It is fortunate that the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service recognised the
dangers of cavediving and has been training part of its members for the last
five years for this specialised form of rescuing. Therefore it was possible
to intervene successfully and in a safe manner during this particular
accident.
Quick response in the first day after the emergency call, engagement of the
Croatian Mountain Rescue Service’s helicopter crew, that were on call at
that moment, along with every other resources, has shown how flexible and
fully equipped the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service is in performing a
rescue mission of this kind.
At the end we would like to thank the Unit for Technical Diving of Civil
protection of the Republic of Slovenia that immediately put their resources
at our disposal and all Croatian cavedivers that called and offered their
help.
Ivica Ćukušić
Deputy Head of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service’s Cave-Rescue Commission
Head of the Croatian Mountain Rescue Service’s Cavediving Rescue Group
Photo: Mladen Mužinić, Ivica Ćukušić, Milan Bulatović
