Indiana man locked in cave for 60 hours, forgotten by group

[Snowboarder_Bo]

Okay, this should scare the bejeezus out of ya: Indiana man locked in cave for 60 hours, forgotten by group

Indiana University freshman Lukas Cavar was on a spelunking trip to Sullivan Cave about 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Bloomington when he became separated Sunday afternoon from 12 other members of the university’s Caving Club.

When he eventually reached the cave entrance, Cavar found club members had padlocked its gate, unaware that he remained inside. He couldn’t get a cellphone signal and screamed for hours, hoping motorists passing on a nearby road might hear him.

More than 2 days went by…

After his parents filed a missing person report with university police, a high school friend informed the Caving Club’s president that Cavar was missing.

Two club leaders immediately returned to the cave late Tuesday after finding a pile of clothing in a vehicle club members used to travel Sunday to the cave. They discovered Cavar uninjured and asleep behind the locked gate.

A message posted by the Caving Club’s president on a website for Indiana University student organizations says the club’s “rigorous protocols” for accounting for members during cave excursions had failed.

“We had a failure in our leadership to closely follow all these safety procedures,” the message states.

Unsurprisingly, Mr. Cavar

has no plans for another spelunking trip.

Ya think?

Just imagine what would have happened if he was from out of state and/or hadn’t made any real friends yet… the next trip to that cave wouldna been about spelunking, I can tell ya that.

[Slash1972]

I wonder if their “rigorous protocols” are a guy with a clipboard and list of names with checkboxes next to them?

[MikeG]

We have better safeguards in place for our mushroom hunting forays which are in the forest preserve and never more than 1/3 mile from a given road!

[cochrane]

So, they threw him down a quarry and left him there?

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

[billfish678]

I personally know somebody where something very like this happened to them…needless to say they were not amused…

At least they didn’t go on a scuba diving trip…shudder…

PS…I got some shit once for making sure such shit did NOT happen…and I had to step in another related scenario when the person in charge just flipped the fuck out and I had to take command to find “lost guy”…even got the local EMS involved…

Moral…even simple shit can have serious consequences…

PPS…I remember talking online to a person who got involved in related SCUBA scenario…fortunately they got found about 36 hours after the dumb assed dive boat left them.

[billfish678]

LUKAS CAVAR?

Is this some sort of Star Wars / caving tie in?

At least there was no Jar Jar Binks involved…

[I_Love_Me_Vol.I]

A message posted by the Caving Club’s president on a website for Indiana University student organizations says the club’s “rigorous protocols” for accounting for members during cave excursions had failed.

Yep, those are some rigorous protocols all right. Counting to thirteen. :rolleyes: Jeez guys, don’t give up when you run out of fingers next time, OK?

[Tom_Tildrum]

@Slash1972

I wonder if their “rigorous protocols” are a guy with a clipboard and list of names with checkboxes next to them?

ObSimpsons: “If the buddy system can fail, I don’t know what to believe in.”

Even now, maybe no one has realized that Cavar’s spelunking buddy is also still missing.

[billfish678]

AS funny (or not) as this story may be…it does tie into that whole “baby left in hot car” type of scenario…make a few assumptions…get distracted…don’t check…normally not a big deal…and there you go…

And to think some people give me shit for being borderline paranoid about fucking up the simple stuff…this is why…

[teela_brown]

Life imitates Tom Sawyer.

[Beckdawrek]

Who locks a cave?? Wtf

[billfish678]

People who don’t want every formation broken and every wall covered in spray paint…

OR in other words assholes fuck it up for the normal people…

[PastTense]

@teela_brown

Life imitates Tom Sawyer.

Doesn’t sound like it: Tom went and found another way out. This guy just screamed.

[Little_Nemo]

Could be worse.
Woman found dead in gym bathroom 2 days after entering

[Machine_Elf]

@Slash1972

I wonder if their “rigorous protocols” are a guy with a clipboard and list of names with checkboxes next to them?

That would probably be adequate, if they were actually fastidious about using it.

[John_DiFool]

@teela_brown

Life imitates Tom Sawyer.

Mean mean pride.

[CalMeacham]

I was once on a side excursion from my tour in England. They counted heads before everyone got off the bus, but they still left without me.
I was looking into getting back to London via the railways when I realized that some other tour bus was probably going back to London, and I could hitch a ride with them. I did, but at the price of being an Example (“If you get separated from your tour, do what this young man has done…”)

[Thudlow_Boink]

@PastTense

Doesn’t sound like it: Tom went and found another way out. This guy just screamed.

Not Tom—Injun Joe.

@Mark Twain

The Judge and some friends set Tom to talking, and some one asked him ironically if he wouldn’t like to go to the cave again. Tom said he thought he wouldn’t mind it. The Judge said:
“Well, there are others just like you, Tom, I’ve not the least doubt. But we have taken care of that. Nobody will get lost in that cave any more.”
“Why?”
“Because I had its big door sheathed with boiler iron two weeks ago, and triple-locked—and I’ve got the keys.”
Tom turned as white as a sheet.
“What’s the matter, boy! Here, run, somebody! Fetch a glass of water!”
The water was brought and thrown into Tom’s face.
“Ah, now you’re all right. What was the matter with you, Tom?”
“Oh, Judge, Injun Joe’s in the cave!”

Within a few minutes the news had spread, and a dozen skiff-loads of men were on their way to McDougal’s cave, and the ferryboat, well filled with passengers, soon followed. Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher.
When the cave door was unlocked, a sorrowful sight presented itself in the dim twilight of the place. Injun Joe lay stretched upon the ground, dead, with his face close to the crack of the door, as if his longing eyes had been fixed, to the latest moment, upon the light and the cheer of the free world outside.

[Senegoid]

@Slash1972

I wonder if their “rigorous protocols” are a guy with a clipboard and list of names with checkboxes next to them?

A further question being: Did they not have such a protocol (or similar)? Or did they have an established protocol and it wasn’t followed that day?

[G0sp3l]

@billfish678

LUKAS CAVAR?

Is this some sort of Star Wars / caving tie in?

At least there was no Jar Jar Binks involved…

Marvel. He now has the proportional speed and strength of a… cave?

DC. Abandoned by the Challengers of the Unknown, Cave Carson’s stepson Lukas learns the ways of the troglobites! Taking the name CA-VAR he brings swift death to any that dare violate the sanctity of the underworld! With his trusty salamander at his side CA-VAR vows revenge on all spelunkers, and especially The Challengers of the Unknown!