Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is a Squiz Podcast. We're your shortcut to being informed. Rescue missions to reach people trapped inside caves have been in the news lately, with a crew in the Southeast Asian country of Laos racing against the clock to save villagers who have been stuck deep inside one for just over two weeks.
The operation is one of a number of highly risky rescue missions that happen across the world every year. So in this Squish Shortcut, we'll look at what attracts people into cave systems, who rescues them if they get into trouble, and what's involved. Squish Shortcuts is the backstory to the big news stories. I'm Alice Dempster. And I'm Andrew Williams.
Andrew, when a lot of us think of a cave, the first thing that comes to mind might be a hole in a cliff face somewhere, but cave systems can be a whole lot more dangerous than that.
And a lot more complex as well. So a cave system is essentially a network of underground passages and chambers that have formed naturally over thousands or even millions of years. And some are relatively small, but others can stretch for hundreds of kilometres underneath the ground and they're found all over the world.
Yeah, we've got some famous ones here in Australia. You might have heard of the Genolan Caves near the Blue Mountains, for example, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Narrakort Caves in South Australia with their fossilised remains of ancient animals.
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Chapter 2: What recent cave rescue operation is highlighted in this episode?
I remember going on school trips to those when I was a kid. And also the lakes and mammoth caves in Western Australia, which have mirror-like underground waters.
I did not go to those when I was a kid for a school trip, but this is my daily chance to talk up Western Australia. So those caves are rare and beautiful. I've seen pictures and, of course, that draws people to want to see them. And that's exactly what happens the world over. But while we might know where a lot of cave systems are around the world, we've still got quite a lot to learn about them.
Yeah, we do. So we know that some of them have been carved out by flowing water forcing its way underground and others have been formed by volcanic activity. But many of the world's cave systems are still being mapped. So we don't know exactly where all of the tunnels lead or what's in them.
Now, that could potentially be exciting. You know, the discovery of the unknown, but the unknown is also potentially highly dangerous because cave systems can be extremely unpredictable. Inside, you might find anything from underground rivers and lakes to maybe waterfalls, which of course you shouldn't go chasing.
They're all lovely, but you could also find that the passages get super narrow or there could be animals in there. Anyone scared of bats, for example, it is not for you. And in some cases, caves can hold mines.
Which is one of the big reasons in third world countries that people venture into them. So it's not all sightseeing and tourism or adventure sports like caving or canyoning. Some people routinely go into these caves in search of minerals to mine as a form of work.
And that is what happened over in Laos recently. So we mentioned at the top there's a rescue mission happening after seven villagers went into a cave system in central Laos looking for gold and other valuable minerals. But heavy rain triggered flash flooding and landslides, and that trapped them underground.
Five of the men were found alive after spending more than a week underground, and several international caving experts, including South Australian cave diver Josh Richards, were brought in to help with that rescue.
Yeah, Josh took part for a few days before leaving the other experts to it. But long story short, the rescuers were able to pump water out of the cave system, which allowed... the water level in the cave system to drop enough for those five men to get out. Now, two more men are still in there.
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Chapter 3: What attracts people to explore cave systems?
And there's something else. The deeper you go in, the worse the air quality gets.
Right. So you're talking there about how some caves have very low levels of oxygen and some even contain harmful gases, add in the slippery surfaces, falling rocks and extremely tight spaces. And it's not a big leap to understand why sometimes even experienced cavers can find themselves in trouble.
And that is why cave rescues often need specialist teams to help out. So one of the most famous examples was the 2018 rescue of a young soccer team in Thailand. You may well remember this. Twelve boys and their coach became trapped inside the Tam Luang cave system after monsoonal rains flooded the tunnels behind them.
Millions of people around the world followed that rescue. It was incredible. I certainly remember it. Some of them were stuck in there for 18 days. Again, specialist cave divers from a bunch of countries worked on that mission, including around 20 Australians.
But it was the anaesthetist and expert cave diver, Dr Richard Harris, and his dive partner, Dr Craig Challen, that were the linchpins of this operation because some of the boys couldn't swim and
and the underwater visibility was zero, Harris made the critical and high-risk decision to sedate the children with anaesthetics so they wouldn't panic during what was going to be an hours-long journey through the flooded tunnels. He stayed inside the cave system to assess those boys and was reportedly the last person to leave.
Those two were jointly named the 2019 Australians of the Year, and they were awarded the Star of Courage for their bravery in that rescue. This latest Laos rescue has drawn some comparisons to that one, and some of the same rescuers are involved too, including the Finnish diver Miko Parsi. But cave rescues don't always have a happy ending. It's
No, unfortunately, some do end in tragedy. Another recent story in the news was in the Maldives where five experienced Italian divers died while exploring an underwater cave system. Authorities are still investigating what happened there. We don't know for absolutely certain, but it's a reminder that things can go wrong, even for experienced people.
So up next, we'll look at what goes into a cave rescue and why they're often a race against the clock. Andrew, one of the biggest challenges in reaching people stuck inside caves is that the rescue missions are rarely straightforward.
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