South Africa Cave Dive: Recovery Mission

27:55Don squints into the dark abyss below. looking for any indications that Dave's on his way back up. At a depth of 150 meters, nearly 500 feet, he passes a last cluster of emergency gas cylinders that have been clipped to the shot line. And then suddenly he sees something. A tiny light shines in the darkness more than 100 meters below, like a single star burning in the vast blackness of the night sky. I look down and I can see a small, small, small light in the distance. And the agreement that Dave and I had is if you've got a problem, the distress signal is waving a light. The intention was if he had a problem, he would wave the light.

28:42I would carry on down. I had the gas to do it. I was the only diver that actually could go to those depths. Everyone else had limits. But the light isn't moving. As Don descends towards 220 metres The intended rendezvous point with his friend It remains motionless And still, there are no bubbles to suggest Dave is ascending In the gloomy depths of the cave Something has gone badly wrong Don has to get down there As I'm going down, I'm going, right, okay I'm probably going to go all the way down So I'm preparing for that fact He continues plummeting through the fathomless darkness, the pressure increasing with every meter he descends The light grows bigger as he nears it, but it remains unmoving With steely calm, Don pushes on towards the bottom of the cave 230 meters, 240 He is now deeper than he has ever been before And then, at about 250 meters, there is a sinister crack followed by a dull thud.

29:57To an expert like Don, it's a grimly familiar sound. Now I've heard that thud before, where you're at depth and you get an implosion of some sort. It's not an explosion, it's an implosion. So you get almost like a sucking thud and you feel it in your body because in the water you can feel all these things. So now I had to put the brakes on. The rebreather controller on his left wrist has imploded under the immense pressure at this depth. Things have just got a whole lot more complicated. Don must now manually insert gas into his breathing apparatus using another controller, and it's a tricky task.

30:41At these depths, too much oxygen becomes toxic and can cause severe convulsions, which would likely prove fatal. What I do is I add a little bit of oxygen. It's a drill that we practice many, many times, but I've never put oxygen in at 250 meters. The display on the handset jumped up to 2.6 bar pressure of oxygen, which is really unhealthy. Even as he tries to delicately feed oxygen into the system, the levels of the gas in his rebreather grow dangerously high. Don is forced to switch to his open circuit backup tanks. But that comes with another problem. The first thing you do when you go over the circuit is look at the gauge to see how much gas you've got.

31:26Now when you look at the gauge, just like a second hand on a watch, with every breath it clicks back. Like a second hand going backwards. So I knew that I didn't have many breaths. At that depth I'm 26 bar pressure. So 26 bar pressures, every breath is multiplied by 26. So that gas is not going to last too long. So now I've got to get off this open circuit.

31:57Back to plan A. Don needs to get his rebreather stabilized soon. If he can't, he may not have enough gas in his backup tanks to reach the nearest emergency cylinders nearly 100 meters above. Drawing on his years of training, he performs a procedure known as flushing the loop, reducing the oxygen in his rebreather to safe levels so he can switch back to the machine. Slowly, he gets things under control. Crisis averted, for now. But manually inserting gas and monitoring his levels is going to be a full-time job. All his attention now has to be directed towards his own self-preservation. And if he is having to focus on himself, it means he cannot focus on Dave.

32:46He cannot go any deeper. The bleak situation leads to a painful decision. Now I know there's absolutely no way that I can go down to Dave. And Dave's not moving. So this is, in priming terms, this is where you'd cut the rope. So now I must leave. But all the time I'm thinking, Dave is not dead to me. Maybe something will happen. Maybe he'll get to come out. Maybe I'll be able to follow the line. But I've actually got to come up now.

33:20With one last glance at the unmoving light of his friend, John begins to head back to the surface.

33:29Having gone deeper than he planned, he now needs to work out a new schedule for his ascent to limit his chance of getting the bends. Also known as decompression sickness, this occurs when a diver resurfaces too quickly, not allowing enough time for nitrogen, another gas absorbed into the body through breathing, to be safely released. Without proper decompression stops, the nitrogen can form highly dangerous bubbles in the blood and tissues, leading to dizziness, difficulty breathing, and even paralysis. Above Don right now is almost 250 meters of water, over 800 feet. It's going to be a long, dangerous journey.

34:17On the surface, everything is running smoothly. Nobody has any idea of what has just happened in the depths of the sinkhole. As planned, the next support divers enter the water and descend to 150 metres where they are scheduled to meet Don But when they get there, he's nowhere to be seen I've got divers waiting at 150 metres but I knew they wouldn't be there when I got there because they can only stay so long and the command is stay as long as you are programmed to stay and then leave because what we don't want is multiple injuries You don't want someone to sacrifice themselves unnecessarily for somebody else.

34:56Just before they have to leave, the two support divers see a single light rising up through the darkness. At this distance, they have no idea whether it belongs to Dave or Don, but its significance is clear. Only one of them is coming back. The divers retreat to the surface to break the news to the rest of the team. Meanwhile Don continues his slow, steady ascent All the time looking back down to see if there is any movement from Dave's light Clinging to the unlikely hope that his friend might still be alive

35:33Eventually he reaches 150 meters Where a group of emergency tanks are clipped With the gas in his own cylinders now depleted after his rebreather malfunction He's reached them at a crucial time I come up, I get to that 150 metre. No bubbles below, light still not moving. I'm on my own there, and what I should do is actually pick up another cylinder. I've really only got one and a half cylinders if something went wrong. But now I don't take the cylinder. I leave the cylinder for Dave. If Dave comes back, he's going to need the gas. So I leave the cylinder there and I carry on out. It's an unrealistic shred of hope, but hard to shake.

36:16On the surface, dive marshal Werner has set an emergency plan into motion, and tension mounts, as people wait to discover which diver is coming back. The question is soon answered. When Don reaches 80 meters, another support diver drops level with him. Immediately the diver sees Don's wrecked rebreather controller. It's obvious he has gone deeper than planned, and that can only mean there was a problem. Don goes to write something on a diving slate, a plastic waterproof tablet divers can scribble on to communicate underwater. It is vital that the rest of the team knows what has happened, so they can adjust their plan accordingly.

36:58I write on the slate and say, Dave's not coming back. So I give that slate to him and I say, don't go down, go up. The dive has turned tragic, but there is little time now to process it properly. All attention switches to getting Don out safely and ensuring there are no other accidents. In the dark embrace of the cave, Don focuses on keeping his oxygen levels under control and adhering to the correct decompression stops. At around 45 meters, he reaches the roof of the enormous chamber. Somewhere above him is the bottleneck, which will take him back into the basin above. Don reaches for another nearby cylinder attached to the line so he can flush his breathing loop and maintain safe levels of gas within his rebreather.

37:49But then, with no warning, Don's surroundings suddenly turn hazy and unsteady. His eyes struggle to focus. He is losing consciousness. I pick the cylinder up and clip it off onto me. And as I do that, I start to pass out. It's like I'm not there. I've just mentally drifted away. It's like I'm fainting, like I'm going to sleep. I'm in a dream world. I don't even know where I am.

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39:24With the edges of his vision darkening, Don has just seconds before blacking out completely. If he does, he'll drown. Don's movements become automatic, mechanical, as his ingrained training and muscle memory take over. divers using rebreathers are taught to change instantly to their open circuit backup tanks if they sense themselves starting to lose consciousness don has practiced the training drill enough times and taught it to hundreds of students but this time it's for real i do it completely by remote completely without command i just do it just like you would do when you're driving a car and you need to stop the car in an accident.

40:11So I did it without even thinking. Don's mouth closes around his scuba regulator and the gas flows into his lungs. But then the world begins to spin. His vision blurs as he starts to rotate through the water. There is no knowing which direction he's facing or which way he's moving. He isn't aware of this now, but when Don switched to open circuit, a tiny bubble formed in his left inner ear, completely disrupting his sense of balance and causing severe vertigo. He tumbles through the water, completely disorientated, pinwheeling helplessly in a void. Now I'm spinning around like a top inside this cave.

40:57I've got about 250 metres of water below me at this point. Not that that's actually going through my head, because I don't even know what planet I'm on at that point. So I'm underwater, and I'm going around, and I'm on the roof, and it's a black roof, but I've got bright lights. So when the light hits the roof, it's like white. And when I carry on spinning, it goes into the black, so the light is going black-white, black-white, as I'm going with. The sensation is surreal. Extreme darkness and extreme brightness flashing through his vision. With no control over his movements and no sense of direction, the biggest risk is that Don will spin off into the black infinity of the chamber away from his shot line.

41:40And if that happens, he'll be lost in the chasm, unsure of which way is up or down. As he twists, something flashes across his eyes. It's his shot line, briefly glimpsed in the water. As he comes back around, he takes his chance. The shot line appears again, and he makes a desperate, instinctive lunge towards it. A second later, his fingers close around the weighted rope.

42:10I managed to basically hook onto the rope, otherwise I'd just kept on spinning and going out of control and disappearing to the depths. so I hold on to the rope and I spin around the rope and this is all in a dream I'm not thinking it's just by instinct Don hangs on with all he's got but the grip doesn't stop his motion and he continues to twist and flail it's a crazy confounding blur finally he slows his tight grasp on the lifeline still intact act. Taking a moment and regaining some of his clarity, he is able to look at the dive computer attached to his wrist, which tells him his depth. Somehow, in his barely lucid, discombobulated state, he has still managed to travel upwards along the rope.

43:07But he is at 35 meters. He has gone too high too quickly. He has to get his decompression schedule back on track Moving carefully, Don retreats down the line to 46 meters Now, totally unable to focus properly on his rebreather's controls His safest option is to stay on his backup open-circuit tanks But this will burn through his air supply And with a time-consuming ascent still ahead of him, he's going to need more gas Don reaches out for a cluster of cylinders clipped to the line nearby As he does so his stomach does a somersault So now I find every time I move I vomit Any time I do anything pick a cylinder up and clip it off I vomit I'm on open circuit and if you vomit you tend to take the regulator out of your mouth vomit and then put it back in clear it and carry on breathing When he is finally able to, he gingerly starts grappling his way up the line towards the next decompression stop Above, a figure moves down towards him A support diver is coming to check on his progress He's coming down to see how I am When I write on a slate, I'm having a hard time Nausea and vomiting And I have to write it like that so they can't misconstrue what I'm saying I've come out of that dream and I can control what's going on but I can't move my body.

44:38I can't get my legs into the place that I want to be. I can hold on to the rope, but I can't get myself horizontal. I can only stay where I am. And any time I try and do something, I spin. Rapidly, the news reaches the surface team. Don needs urgent aid. A tether is made to clip him to the shot line in case he loses consciousness, and a rotor is agreed to ensure at least one diver remains with him at all times. But despite this, Don's situation remains dire. It's been a couple of hours since he entered the water, but as he nears the surface, his decompression stops need to become longer and more frequent, meaning he still has more than ten hours to go.

45:30The climb is gruelling. Don's throat and stomach are raw from retching, and it takes all his strength to maintain his grip on the shot line. But even as the edge is laboriously closer towards the light and air, this strength is fading. Too weak and dizzy to maintain a diver's usual horizontal position, which allows gas to flow directly into the lungs, Don is forced to breathe vertically. Soon every inhale is a painful effort. As I got closer to the surface, I was getting to the point where I couldn't breathe anymore. Normally when you're in the water, you want it to be horizontal. If you suck gas in when you're in a vertical position, you have to use all your muscles to actually bring it down.

46:14So the intercostal muscles in the diaphragm are working with every breath to really suck the gas down. And it's getting to the point now where I couldn't breathe. Don is forced to press his regulator's purge button with each inhale, which helps to push a stream of gas into his lungs. It's all that's keeping him alive And then, when the surface is tantalizingly close There is another problem He's struck by a new, terrifying pain A sharp stab in his left knee A classic sign of the bends There's no more time After some negotiation with the medics Don agrees to cut his decompression in the water short And take his chances on dry land And so, twelve and a half hours after beginning his dive He finally lets the team pull him from the water And into the warm evening air I just give myself over for them to control I just let myself go and be taken care of And I saw a video of me I looked like a real mess when I got out of the water Utterly depleted and unable to walk Don is placed on a gurney then hoisted up the slopes with a rope and pulley system and taken to the mobile recompression chamber above.

47:37He has made it out of Bushman's Hole, but that doesn't mean his battle is over. He remains in the claustrophobic, oxygen-rich chamber until the early hours of the morning. When he is eventually able to emerge, it becomes clear quite how serious his condition is. I couldn't walk unless I had someone to lean on. My eyes were crossed. I couldn't see properly. I couldn't balance in any which way. I could still talk and I could still think, but that was about it. Before he collapses in his bed, Don is briefly able to phone his wife, Andre, who has been kept informed of his situation throughout the day.

48:15I spoke to Andre, and our standard greeting after any dive is, I'm alive. So that's what I said to her on the phone, I'm alive. and when I spoke to her at 3 o 'clock in the morning, she left where we are and did the 12-hour drive to Bushman's to come and see me. So that was the start of yet another journey, really, of getting better. And it took a long time.

48:43In the midst of the grief around Dave's death, there is one central question. What went wrong? As it turns out, it isn't long before an answer is revealed In the days following the accident, some of the team begin retrieving the lines and gas cylinders that remain in the chamber As they pull the shot line up, the movement dislodges Dave's body from the bottom of the cave And he floats up towards the surface And, suspended below him by a thin cave line tangled around Dave's scuba gear, is DeAndrea After the bodies retrieved, attention turns to the camera Dave was wearing The footage shows his dive went entirely to plan Until he tried to place Dion into the body bag At which point both he and the body became unexpectedly ensnared in the cave line During the struggle to free himself from the tangle Dave's breathing grew heavier Increasing the amount of CO2 he was emitting into his rebreather So the CO2 buildup basically knocks you out.

49:52So what we believe is that the CO2 buildup in his body put him to sleep. So he wouldn't have known what was going on any more than I would have known when I was spinning around at 46 metres. Now, we've looked at that tape and we followed it through breath by breath. And I found myself breathing the same way, or breathing with Dave. Because you could hear on the genuine tape, you could hear the breaths.

50:27As Don reckons with the loss of his friend, he is also struggling with his own physical recovery. The effects of his decompression sickness are so bad that it's feared he may never walk normally again, let alone dive. In the days that follow, he endures several sessions in the recompression chamber before Andre drives him for further treatment at a hospital in Pretoria Though Don shows incremental improvement after each session, progress is dispiritingly slow So each treatment I did, I got about 50 % better with each time But I still had a big problem with balance I couldn't walk in a straight line I could walk unsupported, but I couldn't walk in a straight line.

51:12I couldn't walk at night in the dark out to crawl. So if I wanted to use the toilet at night out to crawl, I'd hold conversations and I would have to concentrate so much on what I was doing, I'd actually forget the conversations. Yet, despite his debilitating symptoms, his determination to get back to diving propels him forward. Only a matter of months after the tragic events at Bushman's Hole, he tries re-entering the water at Kamati Springs for the first time. I didn't even know if I could dive at that point, so I went into the water and found that I actually felt better in the water than I did on the land, because I'm an aquatic person.

51:52So I felt better there because I could actually sense things, but I still can't even now swim in a straight line. Even today I still have a problem with balance. This is a problem I'll always have, so I've lost balance really in the left side. Not completely, but what happens is you get used to dealing with it. So now I'm doing things, I'm running up and down all over the place and doing all the dives I ever used to do. I consider myself recovered after that first year, really, in terms of diving, but in practical terms, there'll always be damage.

52:28Despite everything, Don has returned many times to dive at Bushman's. In the years since the accident he's had plenty of time to reflect on his near-death experience there and on what enabled him to survive What I came to realise on that was there was absolutely at no point on that dive did I ever think that I wasn't coming back There was never even a question in my mind All I had to do was what I'd do and I would work my way out So even at the point where I was adding the gas to breathe or when I was throwing up, I was never thinking, oh, I need to get out. All I was doing was living where I was.

53:07So now one of my things is, I say, you know, believe you can. Because if you believe you can, you can do it. In the end, Dave did fulfill his promise to recover Dion's body, though he paid the highest price imaginable for it. At the behest of Dave's widow, Don scattered his friend's ashes near his home at Kamati Springs. The place where they first dived together, and where, two decades later, Don continues to dance in the water, both for himself and for Dave. In the army, we used to say, died with his boots on. Died doing what he loved and what he wanted to do. So, you know, in that, it's a good death.

53:50That's the way I always look at it. And Dave is always in my thoughts. not in a macabre way, but just like I'm expecting him to come around the corner and we can discuss the good things that we've just done. And that's still, you know, 22 years later. And so it's still very much an ongoing process and he still dives in that sense.

54:22In the next episode, we meet Mayan Sabak. In 2008, the 27-year-old is studying in the Chinese city of Chengdu. One day, her friend suggests they escape the hustle and bustle and head to a remote nature reserve. But while passing through a village nestled in the mountains, they suddenly find themselves at the epicenter of a terrible natural disaster, a magnitude 8 earthquake that will go down as one of the deadliest in human history. When the restaurant they're sitting in collapses, Mayan is trapped in the pitch black, buried alive, and so badly injured she's unable to even call out for help. Even as she fights to free herself from this living tomb, up above on the surface, the situation is even worse.

55:08Escaping burial is just the beginning. That's next time on Real Survival Stories. Listen today by joining Noiser Plus. Spring just hits different. One day, cold mud. The next, warm sunshine. But the hardworking men and women in Carhartt don't wait for the forecast to get to work. Hatching roads, clearing trails, planting crops. Their hands turn this season's uncertainty into possibility. So get out there. Spring into action. We've got you covered for whatever the season throws your way. Carhartt. Made possible. This episode is brought to you by Redfin. You're listening to a podcast, which means you're probably multitasking.

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