The Last Thing He Ever Did

two divers are conducting the first ever dive into a long underwater section of aen award cave in South Wales they're at the known limits of one of the UK's most complex caves making an attempt to be the first to break through this flooded section of cave it's a remote location they've already dived through three underwater cave passages and crawled and walked through miles of dry cave to get to this location they've dived as far as they can into this Uncharted passage and they've pushed their Air Supply to the limit when they find what they've been looking for as they follow this Bank leading up to the surface they realize they've made a terrible miscalculation this video is sponsored by ground news ground news is an app and website that lets you easily compare how any story in the news is being covered instead of seeing only one source ground news shows you every article in one convenient place and lets you know the political point of view factual accuracy and the ownership of each media Outlet giving you tools to compare coverage and draw your own conclusions for 40% off unlimited access subscribe through my link ground. news/ waterline the link is in the description in the summer of 1974 Martin far and Roger salari are looking to break ground by going further and deeper than anyone else into one of the most difficult and well-known caves in the UK they're considered two of the best British cave divers of their generation Martin far is a 23-year-old cave diver he's been caving since he was 10 years old and he's been cave diving for the last 3 years at 23 he's already an accomplished exploratory cave diver well known in the UK cave diving Community he's been diving with another caver and Cave diver Roger salari for the last 3 years salar's 2 4 years old and the two divers have a similar level of experience salari is from The Forest of Dean gloucestershire and he's been caving and Diving since the age of 12 Roger salari is a dedicated and rugged cave diver he's known as an achiever he regularly completes difficult caving Expeditions making further progress into caves and mapping out new underground routs together they found and explored miles of new caves in Wales and Island making a name for the eles in the process far and salari want to push the limits in cave exploration using their diving skills to reach the most dangerous and remote underground places they can but it's not always easy for them to find their next challenge to further their reputation during the early 1970s the best caves are often earmarked by other divers another diver might have been to a cave first or made the most progress to date and put an unofficial stamp on it far and salari are frustrated by the number of prime exploration sites they can't claim for themselves their home area is in South Wales and one of the best caves in the UK Ogo aen aworth is nearby they want to explore this cave but another caver by the name of John Parker is already exploring the cave system eventually luck breaks their way after a year of inactivity they realize Parker's lost interest in exploring the cave any further this opens the opportunity for far and Solari to continue the exploration of the cave from where Parker left off the pair will push into aen a with terminal Downstream sumps ogof means cave in Welsh Ogo Egan a is a Cave System found in the limestone rocks of the langat talk escarpment in South Wales it's located just west of the town of abeni and near to the smaller town of cck Howell with over 20 M of surveyed passages it's the fourth longest cave in the UK the cave was first investigated by a man named Brian price in 1949 and 1950 it wasn't until 1957 that Herford caving Club broke through the Cave's first Boulder choke which is a collection of rocks or Rubble that obstructs the passage in the cave past this first Boulder choke the cave opens into a long and complex cave system with various roots to explore it's it's got wide passages featuring pools Limestone formations and flooded sections as well as being a popular caving site Egan ath is also an important bat Roost in sight with several hundred rare lesser horseshoe bats going to the cave to roost every winter after 1957 the next major exploration of Egan aor came when John Parker began diving into the Cave's terminal Downstream sumps a promising section of cave which could offer miles of unexplored ground but it's blocked to normal exploration by sumps or cave passages submerged underwater they can be long or short and they can be static with no flowing water or active with water continuously flowing through them Parker along with other divers had been diving through the Sams in Egen aor to try and push the known limits of the cave after diving into a sump cave divers often find their eventually surface into a new dry section of cave they can walk through and Parker has found short dry sections of cave between the sumps he's dived on his last attempt Parker makes it into sump number three his Air Supply runs short during the dive and he doesn't make it to the end of the sump to see if it opens up into a new dry section of cave today Egen ath is a popular caving site and for cavers who don't want to dive through the sumps there's plenty to explore in the upper sections to explore the cave which goes by by the nickname Aggie cavers need a permit to get the entry key and they have to sign in at the entrance to say which route they'll take in case they get lost from what I understand it's a challenging cave the dry upper reaches could be a 6 to 8 Hour round trip going through the caves underwater terminal Downstream sumps is another thing alog together and an expedition like this would take some planning let's say one of the normal routes is 3 hours in and 3 hours out out with a light backpack for water and food salarian far have to carry their dive kits and multiple cylinders into the cave they can't carry all that kit on their own so they need a group of people to help them who in turn also need their own supplies in May 1974 the pair are ready to go they have everything planned and they have a small group of friends joining them like sherpers these are caving friends who are excited to be part of the Expedition and possibly learn learning as much as they can in preparation for leading their own expedition one day just before the Expedition salari injures his knee he can't make the mile long grueling passage known as the southern stream that cavers need to crawl and squeeze their way through to get to the terminal Downstream sumps and particularly not with all the equipment they need to carry so for the first trip they agree that far will go on his own far will see how far he can get into the cave on this trip and then they can continue the explorations together at a later date it's not unusual for cave divers to dive solo the reality is that as soon as you enter a cave to dive you're effectively on your own or responsible for yourself even if there are other divers in the Expedition I can imagine that salari must have felt like he was missing out they've been planning this together and then through some bad luck and injury forces Solari to sit on the sideline on his last dive John Parker was was forced to turn around while diving S 3 S 1 and two are shorter than S three and Parker didn't have enough air to continue further into sum 3 and make it back out through sum 2 and one on the way back he was just over 200 M into sum 3 when he decided to turn around by my calculations that's longer than sum 1 and two put together can you imagine going through a long dark underwater cave hoping at every turn that the next one gets you to an air chamber nobody's ever been there before and it just keeps going at some point I imagine you start to think it'll never end as an Explorer you want to carry on and as a rational person you know you don't have enough air to just keep Meandering through tunnels with no way of knowing when it'll end far takes a number of extra tanks into this attempt through sub three he wants to make sure he has enough air to keep going and find the end going going into the water he has no idea if he'll make it further than John Parker I'm sure he was wondering how much further it would be or if there's even an air pocket at the other end it's possible there's just a dead end at least he could Mark the end of the cave but maybe there's more and that's the thrill as he approaches the point that Parker turned around he has to be asking himself how much further he needs to go to find out it turns out not that far only 30 M past Parker's limit he breaks the surface some three is 259 M long after he surfaces on the other side he's the first person to discover a new dry section of cave from the water he shines his torch around the cabin and sees an enormous passage that disappears off into the darkness he climbs out of the water drops his diving kit and heads into the cave I can imagine it's the kind of Discovery cave divers dream of making he's the first person ever to go where he is and Solari misses out on this exceptional Discovery there are long sections of wide open passage it's easy to walk through with interesting Limestone and rock formations there are sections where he has to negotiates his way carefully through narrow Rifts and then there's dark deep partially flooded areas this new section of cave carries on for 550 M before the roof starts to dip this is where far finds another underwater sump agen with's sump number four far joins his expedition group and the team make their way back out of the cave to meet with Solari and then head on to the pub to celebrate I'm sure that the celebration for Solari must have been Bittersweet of course he would be excited and even proud of his friend far and at the same time absolutely devastated that he missed out the two turn their attention to stmp number four the next day they start planning the DI and probably spend a bit of time daydreaming about the cave that lies Beyond a month later on Saturday the 15th of June 1974 far and salari are back at agen aor to continue their exploration they'll dive together but they'll operate as solo divers as solo divers they're responsible for their own actions and either of them can turn back at any point leaving the other to continue on their own they set off into the cave with their div equipment and a small team to help them carry everything they'll need ready for a lengthy exploration cave diving in EG and A's terminal sumps means taking your equipment through difficult dry sections of cave that are miles long before you even get to the underwater segments they walk climb and at times squeeze their way through cave passages some are very narrow holes that a person can only just fit through the team passes each item of equipment hand to hand through the these tight passages between them they must have over 100 kg of equipment to carry through the cave system just to arrive at some one the support party goes as far as Sun one and from there far and salari are on their own at the start of the exploration each diver carries three air tanks a cave reel to spool out a line to navigate the underwater tunnels and a pair of caving boots for the dry sections of the Cave the three cylinders should be enough air to allow them to pass through sum 1 and two then through sum three and into sum four they hope this will be enough air to get all the way to the back of Sum 4 and then enough air for them to return through S 4 3 2 and one in the dry cave between sumps 2 and three they each leave the one semi- depleted tank they've used to get to that point these are small tadpole tanks and they'll use them again on the dive out they continue on into sum 3 with their remaining two tanks the 259 M long sum 3 passes uneventfully when they surface they put on their caving boots they head into the 550 M long section of cave that far recently discovered and down towards the start of sum four here they don't have the help of their friends to carry equipment the going is hard but it only takes them half an hour to get to the start of their next dive they look down at the dark pool in front of themselves and get ready to enter the water at this point the two divers are in an extremely isolated location they're miles underground inside a cave and they're about to dive into a dangerous unknown underwater cave passage rescue even in a dry part of the cave in a place like this is very difficult and would take a long time to reach them if something goes wrong under water you're completely on your own I can imagine they'd be feeling a good mix of fear and excitement they decide seeing as they're both making an exploratory dive that for the first time ever in their partnership they'll make the dive close together far usually leavs the last time far dived on his own and made a Monumental Discovery without his friend they want to break the new ground together I'm fairly sure that far wants his friend to experience that feeling of Discovery as much as Solari wants it for himself but they're still diving independently if either diver feels uncertain at any point they can turn back and leave the other diver to carry on alone they swap their Regulators onto their last full tank the tanks they use to dive through some three are no longer full they'll still take them into the dive as reserve for an absolute emergency ideally the reserve tank would have its own regulator but these are young men just starting out in life and they don't have the the budget for multiple redundancies if they need air from the reserve tank they need to use the regulator from their main tank it's difficult to swap onto a reserve tank underwater it's best done in an air pocket or at the other side of a sump but the divers don't plan to be in a position where they have to use their Reserve tanks I found an article that mentioned salar's tanks were slightly positively point and he was underweighted aluminium tanks tend to be slightly positive particularly towards the end of the dive when there's not as much air in them aluminum is lighter than steel I'm guessing he had aluminum tanks if your equipment is positively buyant and you're underweight as in you don't have enough lead on your weight belt to counteract the positive boyancy you end up having to fin or kick to swim down and stop yourself from bouncing along the ceiling of the cave you're constantly engaged both mentally and physically you use more air because you're actively swimming all the time and because you're constantly thinking about not hitting the ceiling of the cave it can add to your mental load far tanks are said to be negatively Point steel tanks will always remain negative or sink unlike salari far simply adds a little more air into his BCD and he's neutrally point in a cave it's important to be neutral you don't waste energy on sewing down and you have one less thing to Cloud your mind which is allows you to concentrate on making the best decisions possible far typically Dives first followed by salari that's how their teamwork has developed I'm not exactly sure why it's possible that far has more equipment or is slightly more experienced than salari diving into some four Solari sets of first I'd imagine that because far dived solo into sum 3 and discovered the incredible passageway between sum 3 and four they now both wants salari to be first into the next cabin salari sets his caving line from his diving reel as he goes they'll use the line to find their way in and out of the submerged tunnel salari has 122 M of line and far who's following close behind him is carrying a further 300 M of line although it's guesswork they're both anticipating the dive into some fall will be long after about four or 5 minutes Solari starts signaling that he's having trouble with his sinuses this often happens to Solari when he Dives to depth it's something he's had to deal with before far signals him that if something's wrong he should head back but salari seems determined and he continues further into some fall ahead of far laying his line as he goes the tunnel through some four angles downwards and as salari descends his sinuses are squeezed Tighter by the water pressure pain increases adding to his discomfort and mental load far checks in with him to see if he wants to turn back but he presses on 120 M from the start of the sump salar's cave line runs out the empty reel is cut off and far ties his line onto Solari and then takes the lead far checks his depth gauge which reads 15 M of water depth the passage ahead continues to descend further the two divers realize it's going to be a long deep dive they press on slowly pulling swimming and crawling their way through the underwater passage far looks at his pressure gauge and sees that he's about to reach his third limit cave divers follow the rule of thirds 1/3 of air in your tank is for the way in 1/3 for the way out and 1/3 as resered for an emergency it's a simple rule you dive for a third of your tank and then turn around and go back if you dive half your tank and then run into a problem that slows you down you won't have enough air to get out in time keeping a third of your air in reserve is a safety measure far knows he should turn back within a few minutes he also knows Solari who has slightly smaller tanks will have slightly less air than he does far carries on after reaching his third limit a couple of minutes pass but far decides he'll push on just a little further he signals to salari that he's going to carry on and salari should turn around if he needs to he assumes Solari will turn back Solari is an experienced and responsible diver and he should make the sensible Choice after signaling to Solari far turns to continue what he thinks is a solo exploration into some form I have this infuriating sense that salari is determined not to miss out on the next Discovery I've seen this in other cave divers who seem fixated on their objective salari has buoyancy and sinus problems that add to his mental load the passage continues to descend to 21 M deep and about 30 m later far sees a steep gravel Bank through the murky water and it's heading upwards he hopes it ascends to an air pocket or better yet another cabin he looks at his pressure gauge he's down to almost half a tank of air he knows it's dangerous to carry on to me it's quite interesting to think about what goes into making a decision to turn back solarian far have been planning this for months if he turns back now who knows how long it'll be until their next attempt will someone else push in line and make the next major Discovery it's taken all their equipment to get you if the Expedition had more equipment at base camp more tanks then the decision to turn around would be easier to make far has already made one major Discovery and there's probably a bit of pressure on him to continue to make further discoveries so there's a huge incentive to push a little further and besides if he finds air he'll have time to stop and rest he'll have time to clear his mind and then he can quickly follow the cave line back to the incredible cabin he discovered on his previous attempt I'm sure the Allure of discovering another large cabin also plays apart he speeds off up the gravel Bank hoping to find air at the top as he ascends it still looks like the gravel bank will continue to the surface he checks his depth gauge 1 M of water he's just below the waterline he searches for an air pocket following the cave further far is so close to the surface of the water that he can reach out and touch it but all he finds is the ceiling of the cave just below the water level he looks to his right and sees the top of the cave extending out at the same level with no air in sight he decides to double down on what's already a gamble he swims in the direction he's looking hoping the top of the cave will angle upward into an air pocket he continues along the ceiling of the cave instead of ascending the cave dips into an Al Cove and after less than 10 m he hits a vertical wall fars in trouble there's no air he looks at his pressure gauge and he's got less than half a tank left he's got his reserve tank from sum three but he wants to avoid swapping his regulator underwater if he can swapping a regulator from one tank to another underwater is difficult and dangerous but worth considering in a tight spot best to be avoided today serious cavers won't dive without multiple redundancies and a regulator on each tank and he needs the reserve tank to get him back through sump number three he really needs to make it back using the air in his primary tank the stress of the situation is building and far finds it difficult to think clearly he prepares to head downwards and then up the passage that leads back to the start of the sump as quickly as can and then as he turns to make his exit the unthinkable happens he sees salari higher up than him on the ceiling of the passage looking for air he never turned around far swims over to salari and signals they have to get out of the sun Solari doesn't sign anything back far's signal is clear enough far drops his cave Rael off to the side for Solari to follow and speeds down the line in front of him he reaches the deepest point at the bottom of the gravel back he descends rapidly and doesn't equalize his ears properly on the way down and now he's in serious pain his head is reeling with a mix of stress and pain and physical exertion from scrambling to get through the tunnel but he has to keep moving for the next several minutes he crawls and swims through the murky water back up the tunnel trying to be as fast and methodical as possible while working to keep his breathing even so that he doesn't waste what little air he has left he continues back up the line he laid from his reel and just before the point where his line is tied to Solari 122 M from the cabin and fresh air he stops he decides to wait to make sure salari is following it feels like he's there for a long time but he waits nonetheless he's only there for a minute a very long minutes he's still over 120 M from the start of the sump his primary tank is almost empty he thinks about heading back to look for Solari but he knows he doesn't have the air reserves to go back down the tunnel he has to get out he continues back to the surface trying to stay as calm as he can all the while dealing with a pounding headache far resurfaces at the entrance to some fall the moment he breaks the surface he feels an incredible sense of relief the pain in his ears is excruciating and he's got a severe headache he stands in the pool with his head in his hands for what he thinks is around five minutes wondering if he seriously injured himself I can't find any reference to it but I think there are two things at play yes he's put some pressure on his eard drums which can be incredibly painful I think he's also overexerted himself and he's been skip breathing to conserve air skip breathing is holding your breath for short periods underwater the pressure increases and so the effects of carbon di oxide when you hold your breath can give you an intense headache eventually the reality of the situation and the events of the previous 30 to 40 minutes start to sink in he's standing alone in the pool Solari is still inside the sump all he can do is sit and wait for his friend to surface thoughts about what could have happened and by this point what probably has happened to his friend torments him there's nothing he can do but sit on the bank and wait he looks at the surface of the water hoping to see the line twitch a group of frothy bubbles rotates lethargically quietly moving around on the surface of the water far considers re-entering the water to search for Solari after an agonizing wait far realizes it's been several hours it Dawns on him that there's no point staying where he is he decides to at least try to make a short examination of the first section of the Sun he's desperately low on air and this will mean going back into the water using the tank he needs to get him back out through the 259 M Su 3 he decides he'll go in and have a look anyway he puts on his gear walks into the water ready to dive almost certainly now to find what will be his friend's lifeless body he pulls gently on the line to make it tor before he heads in he doesn't want to get tangled up in a loose line but when he pulls he realizes the line is slack he pulls on it again to make it tor the line just comes in as he pulls and he realizes there's something wrong with it it's not tied to anything he can't dive along a loose line so he carries on pulling it in when he pulls in 130 M of line just past the knot where the two lines are joined near the point in the sump where he stopped and waited on his way out he finds the line has been cut with a knife when salari was making his way back out of the tunnel he must have become entangled with the line and had to cut himself free quite close behind far in the act of cutting himself free he probably lost his sense of orientation and got lost in the tunnel all the time he spent entangled meant he simply ran out of air he can't have made anywhere from that point with so little air far realizes that his friend is dead and there's nothing he can do about situation far collects his things and heads back up the tunnel getting ready to dive the three sumps that stand between him and the exit of the cave after far and his team get out of aen aor a rescue operation is launched the first attempt launched soon afterwards is postponed because of poor underwater visibility a second attempt is made 5 days later with John Parker but he only gets a short distance into some for he doesn't find salar's body further search attempts are made and in total 2,760 man hours are spent looking for Roger salari despite these efforts his body isn't found 7 years after the incident in 1981 far makes another dive into agen a with sump number four he found the experience traumatic he makes it 25 M into the cave without finding an air pocket before he Retreats he does doesn't find solar's Body another 5 years later in 1986 two divers Ian Rolland and Julian Walker make a significant Advance into sump four they find Roger salar's body 220 M into the sump just past far's previous limits but it's too dangerous to retrieve the body when they're already short on air in such an extreme remote location they leave salar's body and it remains inside sump number four to this day Martin far went on to become a world-renowned cave diver breaking records and taking part in groundbreaking Dives today he teaches cave diving and has written several books about his experience I'll leave a link to his book about this dive down [Music] below and a special thanks to ground news for sponsoring this video ground news is an app and website that lets you easily compare how any story in the news has been covered instead of seeing only one source ground news shows you every article in one convenient place and lets you know the political point of view factual accuracy and the ownership of each media Outlet giving you tools to compare coverage and draw your own conclusions for 40% off unlimited access subscribe through my link in the description ground. news/ waterline [Music]

Channel: Waterline Stories

Views: 68,288

Keywords: Waterline Stories, roger solari, cave, cave diving, cave exploring gone wrong, cave diving gone wrong

Id: beGvGtBeKMs

Length: 30min 23sec (1823 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 27 2024