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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Lethal cave diving accident in Ilyuhinskaya

On August 20th cave diver Alexei Savelyev passed away after an accident in the second siphon of the Ilyuhinskaya cave at a depth of around 1000 m. 

He was a member of the Sokolniki club, who were exploring the cave. Together with his diver partner Aleksey Aksenov he was on his way back from explorations beyond the 4th siphon.

His dive partner tried to resuscitate him but he was unsuccesful.

Currently, participants of nearby expeditions (Kuybishevskaya, Voronya) are working together with the expedition team to extract the body from the cave. 

Given the depth and many obstacles along the way (including a siphon), the rescue action is going to be long and difficult.

Our thoughs go out to all family, friends and fellow cave divers.