CRAVEN’S cave and mountain rescue organisations have been recapping this week following a huge and successful rescue of a caver in Wales which drew volunteers from across the UK.

Both Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association and the Cave Rescue Organisation sent volunteers to the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu (OFD for short) cave system, in the Brecon Beacons, where a man had fallen and sustained serious injuries.

Two hundred volunteers from all major cave and fell rescue centres from all corners of UK spent 54 hours underground to recover the man, in his 40s, who had fallen, it is understood, around 50 feet and had sustained several fractures.

Joe Parsons, a member of UWFRA , reported on the group effort which took place to bring the casualty out alive.

He said: “Cavers rescue cavers. It’s quite a straightforward concept, because there simply is nobody else. Emergency service workers don’t go underground, so a team of unpaid volunteers take up the role. We train and practise, to operate equipment and try techniques out. Training is good, but what you learn on a rescue will open your eyes widely. Have you ever seen 70 people kneel down in a stream to create a safe and level platform for a stretcher-bound casualty to pass over? Read on....

“Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association received a call for assistance at around 4pm on Sunday, November 7. A small team consisting of surface and underground personnel travelled to South Wales overnight, arriving between 3am and 5.15am. The underground team was briefed to be ready to deploy at 9.00am. Nobody had slept. How could you in that situation? We knew the injuries involved and the time that had already elapsed since the accident. Local cavers described the nature of the area we were to go to help in. ”It’s a bit tight and ‘thrutchy’ in places.” That’s caver speak for saying that it will be very difficult indeed! I got my first sight of the ascending stretcher team, some of whom had entered the cave at 3am, at about 10.30am.

"Are you familiar with the term “Pre-hospital care?” It could come in a wide range of scenarios. The most likely that you will see is an ambulance crew attending to a patient beside a road or in their own home. Less likely are you to see caving trauma doctors, wellies and-all, administering intravenous morphine whilst balancing above a fast flowing subterranean stream, with a small head torch for light, to a patient who has severe injuries. It’s a thing to behold, and for an injured caver below ground, a life saver. Significant time and energies had gone into making the casualty comfortable and safe for transport.

"Cue the assembly of cave rescuers, whose sole job is to support the medical team and expedite the extraction of the casualty from the cave. So, the plan was simple. We would lay in the stream passage. Backwards, forwards and upside down, in whatever way we needed to allow the injured man to glide gently across us on his way to the surface. Sometimes moving 6 inches at a time, care, compassion and courage were shown by all involved. It’s less than pleasant being upside down in a stream with the water flowing down your neck hole and out of your overall leg, with the weight of an injured man squashing your face into the floor, but that’s what we do. Cavers rescue cavers. 54 hours after the rescue began, the seriously injured man was extracted from Ogof Ffynnon Ddu alive.

"I’m very proud to be able to have played a small part in this rescue, alongside cavers, friends and rescue colleagues from around the country. Well done to you all, and my very best wishes to the casualty for a speedy recovery. Thanks must also go to the South Wales Caving Club for their hospitality, providing food and provisions for a small army."

The complex Ogof Ffynnon Ddu cave system is about 902ft (275m) at its deepest point and is near Penwyllt, Powys

It is the second largest cave complexes in Wales and one of the deepest in the UK. The caves were discovered by the South Wales Caving Club in 1946, according to Natural Resources Wales, and contain a number of underground streams and waterfalls.

The man was brought out of Ogof Ffynnon Ddu at around 7.45pm on Monday following his ordeal.

After being lifted to the surface, he was clapped and cheered by rescuers before being helped into a cave rescue Land Rover ready to be transported down to a waiting ambulance.

A spokesman for Clapham-based CRO said: "A fantastic effort by all involved and a great outcome."