| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Musiot, Jerzy | Not recorded | Male | Break | Leg |
| Cuber, Jozef | Not recorded | Male | Break; internal bleeding | Back; internals |
In February of 1980 an expedition of very experienced cavers and speleologists led by Maicej Kyczynski arrived at the little village of San Agustin on the highlands around Huautla de Jimenez in the northern end of the state of Oaxaca in Mexico. Their objective was to attempt the connection between Sotano de San Agustin and two nearby deep caves, Sotano de Agua de Carrizo and La Grieta. An American expedition had attempted this the previous year and had no success, though the survey showed the three caves to be in very close proximity in one area. A connection would recover for San Agustin the title of deepest in the western hemisphere. The Polish pushed into San Agustin and established a camp at the traditional site beyond the bottom of the Fishure, at about -536 m, called Camp II. From there the horizontal '68 Passage leads to the deeper parts of the cave. At its end is a 10 m up-climb, usually rigged with a rope for SRT ascent and rappel and then a long, complex drop, partly boulders, which dumps into a lake. Partway down is a side lead which was intensively explored by the previous American expedition since it leads toward the other two caves and the hoped-for connection. The Poles, in doing a vertical cave such as this, were under a sizable handicap. The only rope available to them was of braided nylon of only 9 mm diameter essentially a braided sheath without a core. Such a rope is not overly strong in new condition and is extremely susceptible to abrasion weakening. To get around this, the Poles used double rigging on all drops, with one rope for rappel and one for a safety shunt - if your main rope breaks you are saved by your sliding connection to the second rope. Furthermore, both ropes are tied off to a bolt or other anchor every 10 to 15 m down a drop. Using this cumbersome system, the Poles proceeded with their exploration.
The Accidents: On Saturday, February 16, Jerzy Musiot and companions were moving along at the beginning of Kinepak Kanyon in the area leading toward the site of the possible connection. Musiot was not belayed so when handholds failed, at about 9:30 a.m., he fell 8 m, suffering a broken leg. One companion went to Camp II for help while the rest of the party gave first aid and began to slowly move Musiot back toward camp. When word reached Camp II cavers there gathered a first-aid kit, sleeping bag, stove and food and headed for the victim. At the end of the '68 Passage Jozef Cuber started his rappel, but to move as rapidly as possible in this emergency, he did not use the safety shunt. At about 3:30 p.m. his rappel rope broke and he fell about 20 m. Henryk Szezesny was below, heard rocks falling and dove for cover He yelled "What happened?!" but got no answer. Returning to the drop he discovered the badly injured Cuber about 2 m below in a crevice formed by rock slabs and the wall. Cuber was unconscious but after a few minutes he came to and asked for help. Szezesny removed Cuber's helmet, but didn't move him before heading down to get help from the five cavers aiding Musiot. There were now two injured cavers over 550 m below the surface. Following a discussion, Marian Czepiel returned to Camp II to get a second set of emergency gear for Cuber, a sleeping bag, stove and food. Others went to Cuber to administer first aid. The victim was raised from the crevice and laid on a large, flat-surfaced rock. Cuber had no feeling in his legs but was in pain and requested pain killers. Being careful to move him as little as possible his cave suit was removed and he was prepared for an extended stay. As a sleeping bag was slid around him some bleeding was noticed and this was thought to be from the anus, indicating internal injuries. One caver then stayed with Cuber while three others helped Musiot, with the injured leg, to Camp II. They arrived at 2 a.m. Sunday, over 16 hours after Musiot's accident. Meanwhile the remaining two cavers went to Camp II directly, rested, ate, and changed clothes. At p.m. they headed for the surface to get help. arriving at 9 a.m. Sunday, the 17th. As soon as he heard the news, Kyczynski, the expedition leader, left the surface camp at San Agustin and went to Huautla to call for help. The situation was indeed serious: without extremely specialized assistance, how would they get the injured cavers out? and where in Mexico would they get such assistance?
Outside Help: At 11:50 a.m. he got his first call through, to the Polish Consulate, requesting all possibilities for help be called. Kyczynski then reached Cruz Roja (Red Cross) de Naucalpan and asked for Lorenzo Garcia, the chief of CR Rescue. The Polish had spent time training him for this sort of thing prior to caving in Mexico. Garcia was out but called back later. Alejandrina Casar was called by CR and went to the Polish Consulate to take charge of liaison. Fernando Casar at Cruz Roja began calling cavers for a rescue team. This eventually included a Doctor Mercado who was said to be capable of entering a cave. This group left Mexico City at 8 p.m. Sunday for Huautla carrying with them a winch the Polish had stored at Casar's house. Henrique Hernandez, of the Sociedad de Exploraciones Geographical was called by CR for their rescue team. He had done some exploration in San Agustin in the '60's. Hernandez and two companions left independently for Huautla at about 5 p.m. Sunday. Eleanor Ledesma Carron, the president of the Associacion Mexicana de Espeleogia, became involved in the CR organizing effort and realized the San Agustin situation was beyond the CR capabilities On her own she called Cuetzalan to obtain the services of the American cavers usually there. A runner was sent from the phone office in Cuetzalan to the cavers' house. The cavers were out but Vicente Silva, a Mexican caver renting the house next door got the message and went to where the Americans were. Bill Liebman went to town to call back for more information while a group of cavers just back from a grueling 20 hour push trip in Tzitzicazapan collected themselves. The return call revealed the dire seriousness of the situation - two men injured (one broken leg, one broken back) at over 550 meter's depth in San Agustin. Back at the house all available rope, hardware and medical supples including a spine board were gathered and at 4 p.m. a crew of four Americans (Blake Harrison, Liebman, Steve Pitts and Doug Wilson) and seven Belgians (including Etienne Degrave, a medical doctor) left in Harrison's truck. Accompanying them in a second vehicle came Silva and Armando Amana. At Zacapoaxtla, Silva called the Polish Embassy, CR and Eleanor Carron and relayed the info to Liebman in English. The Polish had arranged for helicopter transportation from Tehuacan, at the base of the mountains, to San Agustin, to occur at 7 a.m. Monday. Calls by Liebman to the U.S. resulted in a request to the Polish Embassy to request aid of the National Cave Rescue Association so that U.S. Air Force transport could be used if necessary. Meanwhile Amana took Degrave to the hospital to obtain medical supplies. The Cuetzalan contingent left Zacapoaxtla to about 8 p.m. Sunday for Tehuacan and the chopper rendezvous. At 12:30 a.m. the truck blew a u-joint. This was fixed on the road by Harrison in 30 minutes and they arrived at Tehuacan at 1:30 am.m. on Monday. At the hospital they obtained medicines not available in Zacapoaxtla. Proceeding to the airport they met a group from Mexico City and learned that a DC-6 would arrive at 8 a.m. with more rescuers and the chopper at 9 a.m. At San Agustin, when the calls for help went out, there were seven cavers available on the surface, five Poles and two Mexicans. Two entered the cave at 3 p.m. Sunday with medical supplies for Camp II. The others obtained medical supplies in Huautla and returned to San Agustin. Deep in the cave Musiot had reached Camp II. After a 14 hour stay, mostly resting, he and his two companions left for the surface which they reached at 7 to 8 a.m. on Monday, February 18. Monday, Casar's group arrived by vehicle at San Agustin, followed by Hernandez's group at That same day Hernandez's two cavers went into the cave laying phone line, arriving at Camp II at 3 p.m. and coming back out on Tuesday. Back at Tehuacan, on Monday morning the DC-6 arrived as scheduled with a load of cavers and Cruz Roja (CR) personnel. Lorenzo Garcia was the leader of this group and Bill Liebman was assigned to be the leader of the Cuetzalan contingent. Cruz Roja felt they could handle the situation but in light of the expertise and experience of the American/Belgian group, compromised and allowed them to participate. Lucky for Josef Cuber! The chopper also arrived and at 10:30 a.m. a group of four rescuers was flown in, but Huautla was fogged in so they landed 30 km away, necessitating lugging the gear 20 minutes up a mountainside to the road. A truck was hired to cover the remaining distance. A second load arrived and both were trucked to Huautla, arriving at 5:30 p.m. The ferrying of rescuers continued.
Plans Are Made: At 6:30 p.m. Liebman met with Kyczynski, Lorenzo Garcia, Degrave and others to plan strategy. Musiot was already out. Cuber with a broken back and possible internal injures was at the end of the '68 Passage, the horizontal trunk beyond Camp II. Between Camp II and the surface is some 550 meters of vertical rope work with little horizontal travel. This is a vertical caver's cave and this was only slowly dawning on CR. Already PMI rope had been left out of a chopper load in order to bring gas lanterns and other useless gear including a 400 m rope too large in diameter for Jumars. Also, it was obvious that CR was jealous of anyone usurping their duty of carrying out rescues in Mexico. They soon discovered the magnitude of what was before them. With little knowledge or experience in complex rope techniques, the CR people were prevented from taking a very active role in the in-cave part of the evacuation. Three hours passed in discussion as groups were drawn up for rigging, stocking camps, moving gear, relief, etc. and contingency plans were made. Overcoming language barriers on teams proved to be impossible - there were four primary languages involved, English, French, Spanish and Polish with German as a secondary language. Two to four languages per group functioning in the proved to be the rule. While the planning went on, phone line was being laid to the bottom of the last drop just short of Camp II, at -500
The Rescue: Tuesday
At 1 a.m. Tuesday, a group of four including Degrave (a Doctor) entered with medical supplies and spineboard, reaching the victim at about 8 a.m. Degrave had been filled in on Cuber's status over the past 70 hours by Kyczynski in German. The victim had lost a lot of blood in the first hour, had spinal injuries resulting in paralysis of his lower body and legs and had been unable to relieve his bladder. Degrave felt the signs pointed against internal injuries. He drained Cuber's bladder and administered a transfusion after which the blood pressure increased from 1 to 13 (on a scale where normal is 12 to 14) and the pulse rate went from 140 to 100. Also administered were Ringer's lactate, antibiotics and morphine. At 8 a.m. another group of four entered carrying hardware and food. The pits above Camp II were changed from Polish to normal rigging from Camp I down to Camp II. In the late morning Mike Boon and Allejandro Villagomez arrived and reported that some French cavers in Mexico City had not obtained an official request for their participation and would not be coming. They also reported that CR was discouraging others from coming saying there was plenty of manpower already. At p.m. a third group of four went in with food for the old Camp I and re-rigged the drops between Camp I (-260 meters) and the surface. At 1:30 p.m. Degrave called and declared that Cuber would be ready to be moved in one to two hours. At 2:30 p.m. two entered followed by a fourth group of four at 4 p.m. and Mike Boon. Tuesday thus saw rescuers filtering down toward the victim, re-rigging drops and supplying Camps I and II as they went. Musiot left by chopper for the hospital. By late in the day there were 19 rescuers at Camp II or beyond, eight Poles, seven Belgian, two Mexicans, and two Americans.
Wednesday: At about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday Cuber was placed in a stretcher and the evacuation began. At the first pitch (the end of the '68 Passage) the stretcher sagged and operations were suspended while a call went out for another stretcher. At 2 a.m. cavers entered the cave with another stretcher and food. Meanwhile, Liebman, at Camp II had provided the spine board in use and SO proceeded to the victim and observed that he was improperly secured and rigged for hauling. These problems were corrected and at 6:30 a.m. transportation of the victim continued. He reached Camp II by 11 a.m. There were, at that point, 22 rescuers at Camp II, eight Poles, seven belgians, four Mexican, two Americans and one Briton. At Camp II there was a rest period and the victim was prepared for the transport ahead, up 500 meters of vertical pitches, several directly in waterfalls. Cuber was wrapped in plastic sheet secured with duct tape and a cylume was attached to provide comfort when he was alone during hauls up pits. Since he was paralyzed already, it meant he could be handled with less care but the intravenous feeding had to be continued during transport and this added complications. The new stretcher arrived at Camp II at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday but the spine board was working fine SO the new one was not used. Ten minutes later a shift of 12 started Cuber up the seemingly unending pitches above. In this series there are two major pitches, a 60 m followed by a 90.
Thursday: The 90 presented problems and was not negotiated until 3:30 a.m. Thursday. Several of the pitches above Camp II are very wet and must have required great determination on the part of the rescuers. We can presume that the counter-balance lifting method was sometimes used since this had worked well In the Harrison rescue In 1977, in which Liebman participated. Mechanical advantage systems were also used. A call went out for more plastic and tape for protecting Cuber from the water and at 5 a.m. Steve Pitts entered with supplies. Moving up through these wet pitches took time and the victim didn't reach Camp I until 5 p.m. Thursday. The worst was over. The planned system of teams, however, had broken down. Some cavers were near exhaustion and others had dropped out, necessitating rearranging of personnel. This resulted in groups without enough bilingual persons for proper communication. At Camp I the water-soaked clothes and sleeping bag containing the victim were changed. Meanwhile, the major portion of the American Huautla expedition, led by Bill Stone, had heard in Mexico City that the rescue was still in progress and had proceeded with all speed arriving at San Agustin by 11 a.m. on Thursday. This group of fresh, expert manpower was comprised of Bill Stone, Jerry Atkinson, Doug Powell, Steve Zeman, Mark Minton, Dino Lowrey, Henry Schneiker and Bob Jeffreys. They entered the cave at 1:45 p.m. to relieve the tired crews already at work. At7 p.m. they all arrived at Camp 1. The tired rescuers were very happy to see the fresh manpower. Excess cavers were sent out with a few left to follow after the victim, carrying the trash at Camp I. At about 9 p.m. Cuber's evacuation resumed with Degrave still attending the victim.
Friday: At 2 a.m. Friday a call was made for material to reinforce the stretcher. At 6 a.m., as they neared the Sala Grande (two pitches below the surface) a call was made for transport assistance and several members of the Socorro (Mexico) Alpine Rescue entered. At 7:45 a.m. the victim reached the open air at the bottom of the pitch in the entrance dolina, where a winch had been set up. At around 9:45 a.m. Friday Cuber reached the surface and in another hour or so he was in a chopper, enroute to a hospital. Cuber's evacuation had taken nearly six days (138 hours). At p.m. the last of the rescuers were out and at 9:30 the Poles broke out special food and booze and a "successful rescue" party began. Saturday and Sunday was spent de-rigging and sorting gear.
ANALYSIS: If you believe that being paralyzed from the waist down but alive is better than dying, then Cuber was very lucky. If the experience and expertise of the Belgians and Americans had not been available I cannot see how his evacuation could have been accomplished. The system of vertical caving, with weak, abrasion-susceptible rope used by the Poles was not the cause of this accident. Rather it was the failure to comply with the system by Cuber in his haste to reach Musiot. Still, a system like this has the odds against it. Apparently the Poles cannot utilize rope from this side of the Iron Curtain and so must make do with what they have. This is certainly a shame and may be the reason this Polish group has a reputation for getting into trouble. During the evacuation the victim got cold, especially in the wet pitches, but suffered no hypothermia. The relative warmth of the cave certainly helped. He was delirious at times and on the last day ran a temperature of 102 degrees F, probably due to infection. The presence of Dr. Degrave was vital for Cuber, considering his injuries--he was within a few hours of death upon Degrave's arrival. According to Liebman, the Belgians, Americans and the lone Briton operated smoothly in the evacuation, playing whatever role was necessary. This is certainly a product of a great difference in vertical caving experience. The unselfish co-operation of these many cavers from several diverse nations is certainly remarkable. Forty-one cavers entered the cave, with about two-thirds working on the evacuation, the rest providing support in camps, monitoring phones, supplying camps and bringing in needed emergency supplies. According to the Belgians this was the deepest cave rescue ever. A monumental job well done.