A French speleologist trapped in a cave in Cantabria after a rockfall

The Government of Cantabria has activated a rescue unit, with more than 30 personnel from different emergency services, to locate the French speleologist who has been trapped in a cave being explored in Soba, in the Portillo de La Sía area.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
26 July 2023 Wednesday 22:22
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A French speleologist trapped in a cave in Cantabria after a rockfall

The Government of Cantabria has activated a rescue unit, with more than 30 personnel from different emergency services, to locate the French speleologist who has been trapped in a cave being explored in Soba, in the Portillo de La Sía area.

His two companions, also of French nationality, have been the ones who have notified the emergency services after part of the roof of the cave detached. The state of the third speleologist is unknown, waiting to find him and confirm his situation.

As detailed by the Government of Cantabria in a statement, the device is made up of technicians from the General Directorate of the Interior of the regional Executive, speleologists from the Red Cross, agents of the Rescue and Intervention Group of the Civil Guard (Greim) of Potes, civil guards and volunteers from Civil Protection of Ramales de la Victoria.

At the moment, a first evaluation team, made up of three members of the Greim, two cavers from the Red Cross and the coordinator of the General Directorate of the Government of Cantabria, is heading to the cave with the aim of evaluating and providing information on the situation.

Meanwhile, other members of the operation are going to proceed to mark the area to avoid losses and put a transmitter at the mouth of the cave to guarantee communications with the Advanced Command Post, located in the La Gándara de Soba sports center.

According to the information that has transpired, it is a complex and very narrow cavity, with two 25-meter and 7-meter wells, very narrow meanders that will probably have to be removed with microblasting, and a circular 1.5-meter room where knocked down the roof.

Due to the complexity of the intervention, the rescue could take hours, as the regional government has warned.