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For those interested in the accident at Little River, here is recovery report as I receive it. Regards Fabricio -----Mensagem original----- De: Mauricio P. Henriques <MHenriques@te*.co*.br*> Para: Cave Diving List <cave-cavern-dive-list@we*.co*.br*> Data: Segunda-feira, 13 de Mar�o de 2000 22:24 Assunto: Accident at little River INTERNATIONAL UNDERWATER CAVE RESCUE/RECOVERY ACCIDENT REPORT DATE - March 6, 2000 LOCATION - Little River Springs, Suawanee Co., FL VICTIM - Michael Hickey, 27 years old, white male RECOVERY TEAM - Lamar Hires and Dell Motes On March 6, 2000, at approximately 8:44 a.m., two Intro-Cave Divers entered Little River Springs wearing doubles and using Diver Propulsion Vehicle's. Neither diver had been in the water since September 1999. This was the first dive of their trip, and they had not been in Little River since March of 1999. Michael Hickey (victim), and Phil Iantosca (survivor), were certified as IANTD Intro-Cave Divers by IANTD Cave Instructor Todd Smith in November, 1997. The survivor stated that they had approximately a total of 200 total dives, and 70 of them cave dives. Both divers last known address is in Massachusetts. Rose Meadows arrived at Little River Springs with students when the survivor surfaced at 10:19 a.m. and asked if anyone had seen his buddy. Rose proceeded as if it was a possible rescue. Two other dive teams were there and ready to get in the water, so Rose requested that they look for the missing diver. Both teams were turned back by the silt. Normal visibility in Little River Springs is 100'+. Rose Meadows used Charles Coborn's cell phone, which was on site, to call Ginnie Springs where the call list was activated by Connie LoRe. Henry Nicholson and myself were called, but neither one of us could be reached. At approximately 10:30 a.m., Lamar Hires was called, and then Lamar contacted the Suawanee County Sheriff's office and proceeded to the scene with Dell Motes. Tom Harter and Mark Meadows were in route to the scene also. When Lamar Hires arrived on the scene, he left Rose in charge of the surface support. She relinquished the report to Tom Harter when he arrived. All details of the recovery were recorded: time log, gas used and equipment and search parameters of each dive. The survivor indicated that the team was separated in the Florida Room on exit when the victim dropped his scooter and silted out the cave. The location of the incident was confirmed with maps shown to the survivor. The silt was still coming out of the entrance to the cave, and it had been two hours since the buddy had surfaced. Lamar and Dell entered the water for the first dive at 12:37 p.m. with a 31% EANx backgas and oxygen for decompression. They searched everything back to 400' past the Dome Room. Lamar and Dell had 85 minutes of bottom time. Visibility was low but manageable, 3' - 5' to the Florida Room, then relatively clear. They surfaced and prepared to send another team in when more details came out from the survivor. He thought that the well casing was in the Florida Room and it was near the well casing where he last saw his buddy. They had scootered back to the well casing, 2250' back. The other divers on site were not comfortable attempting to recover a victim that far back in those conditions. Lamar and Dell entered the water at 3:48 p.m. for their second dive on scooters for the recovery. Their mix was a 33% nitrox with oxygen to decompress with. They dropped their scooters at the Dome Room and swam the rest of the way. The body was found 30' on the exit side of the well casing with scooter still attached, with no regulator in his mouth, face down covered with clay, and hands scraped. The mask was found next to the line approximately 8' from the body. A reel was deployed from the permanent line near the victim's mask, about 80' of line was run out, and then reattached to the permanent line. The reel had the survivor's initials on it. Upon further questioning, the survivor stated he did not recall deploying his reel. The recovery team pulled him out via tether back to the scooters, and exited with Dell's scooter for the tow. Their total dive time was 55 minutes. When the surface support saw the recovery teams bubbles, Rich Gunther was sent in to meet them and bring the body to the surface. At 4:45 p.m. the body reached the surface. Mark Meadows and Harry Averill went back in later to retrieve the Diver Propulsion Vehicle's (the victim's and the one that Lamar was riding). This effort took approximatel 40 minutes. Rose Meadows evaluated the gear of the survivor to find that he had only 50 psi left in his cylinders. He was breathing air and he had a total dive time of 95 minutes, including 22 minutes of decompression on oxygen. Tom Harter and Harry Averill assessed the gear of the victim. He had 825 psi left in his double 95's, which analyzed out at 21.2%, and there was a � roll off on the left valve of his manifold. He was wearing a drysuit, and an Aladin Pro computer which showed a maximum depth of 104'. The victim owned a 10 amp Ginnie light which presumably burned out during the dive, and the casing was not flooded upon inspection. All other equipment was in working order. Physical participants of the recovery were: Lamar Hires, Dell Motes, Rose Meadows, Mark Meadows, Tom Harter, Harry Averill, Rich Gunther, and others unmentioned. I would like to thank you and commend you for coming together as a team to get the job done. Larry Green State of Florida Regional Coordinator IUCRR -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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