A team of four spelunkers were found on the afternoon of Fri. March 21 after failing to return home at the appointed time. The rescue is said to take 8-10 hours.
Rescued Divers
Four men who disappeared on a caving diving trip were found alive by rescuers on Friday afternoon in a cave inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The cave, named, Rainbow Cave, is located at the base of a waterfall five miles west of Townsend, Tennessee near one of the park entrances. The spelunkers included two 17-year-old boys and two men ages 20 and 24. They were found cold and wet but in relatively good condition on Friday.
The men were reported missing on Friday morning, March 21st by the wife of Garry Blakesley, a 24-year-old youth minister and the oldest person in the group. The four of them had left from Maryville Tennessee on Thursday at 10 p.m. and were set to return by 3 a.m. Friday. The other missing men included Blakesley’s brother, Dustin, one of the 17-year olds who went missing. Jake Layman, also 17, and Chris Smith, 20 were among the missing as well. All of the men are from Owassa, Oklahoma. When they failed to return home by 7:30 a.m., Mrs. Blakesley called the police.
Spelunking Rules
According to basic spelunking rules, the missing team did all the right things in planning for and carrying out their plans. It is recommended that spelunkers dive in teams of four, as they did and to have a call-out person to notify rescuers in case the team does not come back at the scheduled time. These practices ensured the help that was made available to them in their time of need.
Rescue Team
A team of 13 rescuers from Knoxville, Tennessee searched the cave for about an hour-and-a-half before the men were discovered at 2 p.m. on Friday, about 500 feet inside the cave at the bottom of the third and final vertical waterfall drops in the cave. A backpack, rope and other items were found near the cave though it is not known who they belong to. The spelunkers were not immediately rescued, with efforts taking from eight to 10 hours before the men could be freed. It has not yet been revealed how the men are trapped and why rescue efforts will take as long so long. However, the rescuers are said to be well trained in cave rescues.
About the Cave
Rainbow Cave is located between White Oak Sink and Cades Cove. It is a limestone valley with several popular caves. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is said to be one of the largest wilderness areas in the country, located between western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee.
