Cave Rescue in “Tangarachka” Cave. ЧП в Болгарии. Причина падения – неграмотное использование узла булинь на навесе. Спасли. Все живы…

Incident with a caver happened on June 20th 2015 at 16:08 in the “Tangarachka” cave near the village of “Bogdanovo” in Strandja Mountain, Bulgaria.

The first alert was submitted by Stanimira Deleva at 16:50. The information given stated that the beginning traverse rope untied during the derigging, almost at the cave exit and the caver S. G. fell 11 meters. The initial information was that there was a possibility for a broken leg and a spinal injury.

The group of four cavers leaded by Boyan Petrov was conducting bat monitoring in the “Tangarachka cave” during the Incident. Initially the rigging was started with a Figure Eight Knot, but the rope did not reach the bottom. Boyan Petrov transformed the knot into a Bowline Knot without a safety knot and without a backup anchor which lead to untying the knot and was the direct cause for the incident.

A cave rescue camp was conducting during that time near the town of Kotel, the “Zlosten” locality and most of the cave rescuers were participating in a training cave rescue in the “Maglivata” cave.

Right after receiving the alert a cave rescue team consisting of Valery Peltekov and Rosen Vatev was assembled and went towards the place of the incident which was situated about 200 km away from the rescuers camp. Georgi Germanov, Lazar Miltchev and Stoyan Atanasov from “Burgas NEPIAST” caving club departed from Burgas at the same time.

The two teams of rescuers gathered at 20:00 in Bogdanovo and were met by Boyan Petrov who showed them to the place of the incident. The cave is situated about 2 km away from the village following an old dirt road and after that directly through a forest without visible trail. At 20:50 the cave rescuers started rigging the raising system for the injured caver with a stretcher.

It was raining during the whole rescue which further complicated the rescue activities. There was constantly a person with the injured caver. He was isolated from the ground by empty caving transport bags and packed with a sleeping bag and a rescue blanket to prevent hypothermia. He was given a dose of painkiller – “Aulin”. Until the arrival of the rescue team he also was given some warm beverages and light meals. The injured caver did not remember the exact moment of falling. He was conscious during the whole time and in a good spirit.

The cave rescue in the “Tangarachka” Cave was completed at 23:30 – the stretcher was raised outside the cave, carried to the specialized off-road vehicle of “Cave Rescue” – Bulgaria and then transported to the Emergency Department in one of the major hospitals in Burgas.

A complete medical examination was given to the injured caver at the Emergency Department in Burgas. The damages were a broken wrist bone and multiple bruises. He was released from the hospital the same evening in a comparatively good condition and ability to move alone.

After the analysis of the place of the incident it is assumed that the cave relief and the pile of clay and guano at the bottom as well as the great deal of luck prevented the injured caver from more serious injuries.

Cave Rescue – Bulgaria appeals to all cavers not to compromise the safety rigging of the single rope systems for caving.