Last week the US media reported on an astounding story of survival which has left many wondering just how it happened. Lukas Cavar was visiting Sullivan Cave in southern Indiana with his university Caving Club. As the group were leaving Lukas became separated and his peers promptly left without him. No attempt was made to look for him and his absence went unnoticed. When he realised he was alone he waited for someone to come find him, but it became evident that his group had departed when he could not even here his name being called. Reaching the entrance he found that the Club president had locked the gates of the cave behind him. "I was very confused and pretty scared," Lukas told the Indiana Daily Student. "It took me a little while to wrangle my emotions and sort of approach things analytically, sensibly, to come up with a game plan to survive."
He had no water, no food and was dressed only in light clothing. Lukas was reduced to licking the cave walls for moisture as he endured three days in the darkness. In a moment of desperation he wrote goodbye messages to his family on his mobile, which was useless underground. He considered eating crickets after the sustenance he could gather from chocolate bar wrappers was spent. When his phone battery died he spoke aloud to friends he doubted he would see again. He tried to cut through the steel padlock on the gate with a paperclip. The Club had issued him with a helmet equipped with a flashing light which he positioned at the gate to try and attract attention. He could hear cars passing on the road but his calls for help, which he kept up for hours, went unheeded. Darkness brought bats to the cave which Lukas feared would bite him. He fled deeper in to the interior away from the bats but the inside of the cave was dangerously cold. He walked around to keep warm.
It was not until Tuesday evening, after the trip had occurred on Sunday, that the president of the Caving Club realised Lukas was missing and returned to the cave. Lukas was woken by a light approaching and he watched as the man who had locked him in, freed him. The president of the Club conducted a medical examination, asking Lukas to say his name, where he was and the time of year. He was given socks and a sweatshirt and a thousand apologies. In a post on Facebook, Lukas said: "Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm safe and sound! Just got rescued about 30 minutes ago. Boy, it's good to be back on the surface!". He devoured a bowl of pasta and a Big Mac, which he described as they best meal he had ever had.
The Caving Club said there had been a "failure of leadership” and released the following statement, "We have a series of rigorous protocols in place that are supposed to prevent situations like this, but they are only effective if followed. We had a failure in our leadership to closely follow all these safety procedures. The risk that our member was exposed to as a result of these failures is a vivid reminder of why we have protocols.”" Lukas said that when the gate was opened “You could tell they were pretty shaken up. They did near kill me. I can’t imagine what kind of guilt they felt.” The Club claim they did a head count, of the very small 12 man group and everyone had a buddy. The club are reviewing their safety procedures to ensure this never happens again.
This case serves as a pertinent reminder of the need to have strong safety procedures in place and to have the welfare of the group at the forefront of everyone's mind.
