Doctor dies exploring cave, companions rescued

[Wayne Harrison]

CEBU CITY -- A cave explorer died while five others, including an American, were rescued some 20 hours after they were trapped inside a cave northwest of Cebu City.

The six spelunkers went inside the cave shortly before 9 a.m. on Friday for what was to be a three-day mapping and exploration of the still unnamed cave when one of them, Dr. Adolf Espina, fell at around 6 p.m. due to a malfunction in his equipment, according Merks Certifico, one of the cave explorers.

The team planned to determine if the cave, located in Barangay Gaas, on the outskirts of Balamban town, 63 kilometers northwest of Cebu, was the deepest in the Philippines, Certifico said.

Each team member carried a 400-meter rope for the exploration and they were down to 150 meters when the accident happened, Certifico said.

Espina, 36, an ophthalmologist and a spelunker for over 10 years, fell 56 meters down and got lodged on a ledge.

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<b><a href="http://outdoorpictures.multiply.com/journal/item/5/IN_MEMORIAM_DOC_ADOLF_ESPINA">In Memoriam</a></b>

[Scott McCrea]

Dr. Adolf Espina, fell at around 6 p.m. due to a malfunction in his equipment, according Merks Certifico, one of the cave explorers.

I wonder what that means.

[NZcaver]

Yeah, I wondered about that as well. Maybe an accident report will surface at some point.

FYI - if anyone was wondering, Cebu City is in the Philippines.

[Scintilena]

“The carabiner that supported his descender broke. T

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2007/12/02/news/doctor.dies.in.cave.accident.html

Best regards from Andrea Scatolini, Italy http://www.scintilena.com[/url]

[Scott McCrea]

“The carabiner that supported his descender broke. The weakest load of the carabiner, which was on his lock, got in contact with Doc’s body and it tripped off, which we believed probably caused the accident,” he said.

There may have been something lost in the translation, because carabiners don't just break. Perhaps, the biner opened the bobbin, similarly to Dick Graham's accident. I assume that Philipino cavers use bobbins.

[Tubo Longo]

“The carabiner that supported his descender broke. The weakest load of the carabiner, which was on his lock, got in contact with Doc’s body and it tripped off, which we believed probably caused the accident,” he said.

There may have been something lost in the translation, but carabiners don't just break. Perhaps, the biner opened the bobbin, similarly to Dick Graham's accident. I assume that Philipino cavers use bobbins.

I agree that something may have got lost in the translation.
To me it sounds like as if the biner, at the contact with the body, turned somehow (yeah, how..?? partially upside up/down..??) so to load the bar that, of course, broke under the load.

This may have happened at the top of the pit: when the caver realized it, it was too late. Otherwise it doesn't make much sense: a biner turning partially upside down WHILE LOADED..??

[Bob Thrun]

Neville McMillan had an article on carabiner breakage by a descender that was reprinted in Nylon Highway 47 http://www.caves.org/section/vertical/nh/47/uiaa2.pdf

It is one possible machanism, though we do not have enough information to identify the exact cause of the accident. I had a rack get twisted like what McMillan describes. Luckily I was using a Maillon Rapide with a strong gate, otherwise I would have been in real trouble

[*el niño*]

Accdg to one of his companion, “It was equipment failure,” the locking carabiner of the rappel rack, which was connected to Espina’s seat harness, somehow got loosened.
It eventually detached Doc from the common rope.
more detailed story @ http://trailsign.tk

[Scott McCrea]

Accdg to one of his companion, “It was equipment failure,” the locking carabiner of the rappel rack, which was connected to Espina’s seat harness, somehow got loosened.
It eventually detached Doc from the common rope.
more detailed story @ http://trailsign.tk

Thanks for the info, *el niño*. Here's a direct link to the Trail Sign thread.
http://z4.invisionfree.com/coat/index.php?showtopic=126

[*el niño*]

Thanks for giving the complete link mr. mc crea, a new detailed theory was posted by kid joe for the said accident:
u may visit the link below: http://z4.invisionfree.com/coat/index.p ... try4273940