A DIVER who spent the night trapped in a pothole suffering decompression syndrome has been rescued alive after a huge and highly-delicate underground operation.
The 52-year-old got into difficulties at around 20.10 yesterday (Thursday) night in the Alfaguara del Cinojal area of the Las Nieves mountain range just outside Parauta, near Ronda (Málaga province).
One of his potholing partners called emergency services.
The victim was 80 metres below ground and under water when he began to suffer decompression syndrome, a condition that affects scuba-divers when they are hit with a sudden drop in atmospheric pressure.
In many regions in Spain, the nearest hospital with a decompression chamber can be as far as two provinces away, meaning patients frequently have to be air-lifted.
Fortunately for the potholer in Parauta, the nearest hyperbaric chamber was also in the province of Málaga – at Xanit hospital in Benalmádena – meaning emergency services were able to get him there by road in a mobile intensive care unit.
Firefighters, police, and specialist mountain rescue workers and divers from the Guardia Civil were brought in and spent the whole night trying to get the climber to safety before it was too late.
They finally brought him to the surface and had him in an ambulance by 03.30 this morning (Friday).
He is said to be making good progress in hospital.
Photograph by the Asociación Andaluza de Exploraciones Subterráneas (Andalucían Underground Exploring Association, or AAES)
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