British diver who helped rescue Thai cave boys gets trapped in cave

  18 April 2019    Read: 1381
British diver who helped rescue Thai cave boys gets trapped in cave

A British diver who helped save a junior football team from a cave in Thailand has himself been rescued from a flooded tunnel in the US after more than a day underground, the Guardian reports. 

Josh Bratchley failed to return to the surface with the rest of a party after they emerged from a cave in Jackson County, Tennessee, at around 3pm on Tuesday.

After several attempts to find him themselves, his fellow divers alerted emergency services at around 1am local time (7am BST) on Wednesday morning.

Expert divers were flown in from Arkansas and Florida and a rescue dive began at around 6pm on Wednesday evening. Authorities said he was successfully rescued around an hour later.

“After the diver was rescued and brought out of the water, he stated that he was fine,” a statement said.

“He was then evaluated by medical crews on scene and found to be stable. He has refused medical treatment and transport.”

Bratchley was part of a crack team of British cave diving experts who helped save 12 schoolboys and their football coach from a flooded cave in Thailand last year.

A meteorologist by trade, he was later honoured at a reception held by the prime minister at Downing Street and appointed MBE in the 2019 New Year’s Honours list.

Bill Whitehouse, vice-chairman of the British Cave Rescue Council, said Bratchley entered Mill Pond Cave on Tuesday to replace a guideline.

 


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