00:00Kingsdale Master Cave
00:01On January 10, 1993, Michael Jones entered Simpson Pot in the Yorkshire Dales with a
00:08group of cavers for what should have been a routine through-trip.
00:11The plan was straightforward.
00:13Descend the 367-foot-deep Simpson Pot by abseiling down a series of pitches, then navigate through
00:20Swinstow Cave into Kingsdale Master Cave and exit at valley entrance at the base of the
00:25hill.
00:26It was a popular route, graded as difficult but manageable for experienced cavers.
00:32Michael and his group descended into the cave system without issue.
00:36They passed through Five-Step Pot, traversed over the pit, and dropped down Storm Pot.
00:41They negotiated the Blasted Hole, a waist-deep pool with limited airspace, and continued
00:47downward through the tight fissure at the top of Slit Pot.
00:50At the bottom, they entered Swinstow Final Chamber, where the waters from multiple cave
00:55systems converge before flowing into Kingsdale Master Cave.
00:59As they moved deeper into the system, the water began to rise.
01:04Heavy rain on the surface was feeding into the cave, and the passages were flooding rapidly.
01:10The group tried to move quickly toward the exit, but the current was growing stronger.
01:14In Kingsdale Master Cave, the water surged.
01:18Michael was swept off his feet and carried by the torrent toward the sump, a submerged passage
01:24where the cave fills completely with water.
01:26He was pulled under and washed into the sump.
01:29His body was later recovered.
01:31Three years earlier, in February 1990, another caver named Philip Tams had drowned in the same
01:38cave system.
01:39Phil was a student at Bangor University College, caving with a group when one of his companions
01:44got into difficulty.
01:46Phil went alone to summon help, moving through the flooded passages of Kingsdale Master Cave.
01:51He never made it out.
01:53He drowned while trying to save someone else.
01:57Jacob's Well
01:57On September 9, 1979, two young divers from Pasadena, Texas, Kent Maupin and Mark Brasher,
02:06entered the clear, cool waters of Jacob's Well.
02:10The popular swimming hole is the entrance to the second-largest, fully-submerged cave in
02:15Texas, a system of four chambers that has lured divers for decades and claimed at least
02:23a dozen lives.
02:25The first chamber is a straight, sunlit drop to about 30 feet.
02:30The second chamber extends deeper, to 80 feet.
02:33Kent and Mark navigated these first two chambers without incident.
02:38From the second chamber, a narrow opening leads into the third, a room known for its treacherous,
02:45shifting gravel floor.
02:47It is here that most of the Well's victims have been lost.
02:51Inside the third chamber, the two divers entered a narrow passage, believing it to be a shortcut.
02:58The passage was a dead end.
03:00As they attempted to turn around in the confined space, their fins disturbed the loose gravel,
03:07instantly reducing visibility to zero in a blinding cloud of silt.
03:12One of the divers became wedged in the tight passage.
03:15The other, trying to help his friend, also became trapped.
03:20They ran out of air and drowned in the darkness.
03:24Their bodies were later recovered by Don Dibble, a local diver who had pulled most of the Well's
03:30victims from its depths.
03:31During the recovery, Dibble himself became trapped by the shifting gravel and nearly died,
03:38suffering a ruptured stomach during a rapid, unconscious ascent after his own air supply
03:44was cut off.
03:46The fatal allure of Jacob's Well lies in its deceptive beauty, hiding a dangerous and unforgiving
03:54underwater labyrinthine labyrinth below.
03:58Cave Stream Scenic Reserve
04:00On June 21, 2003, Noeline O'Brien, her estranged husband Peter, and their two children, Jude and Julian,
04:11arrived at Cave Stream Scenic Reserve in New Zealand's Southern Alps.
04:16The popular tourist spot features a limestone cave with a stream running through it,
04:22a common adventure for families and school groups.
04:25Signs at the entrance warn of the risks, advising against entry if the water is high,
04:31and recommending proper equipment.
04:34The family entered the cave with just two torches between the four of them.
04:40As they navigated the dark, winding passage, the water was cold, typical for a New Zealand
04:46winter.
04:47At some point during their journey, both torches were dropped and lost in the flowing stream.
04:53Plunging the family into absolute darkness.
04:59Disoriented and unable to see, they struggled to find their way forward or back.
05:06For three hours, they were trapped in the near-freezing water.
05:11The cold was relentless.
05:15Peter O'Brien eventually managed to find his way out of the cave and get help.
05:20A rescue team was dispatched and located the rest of the family huddled together in the dark.
05:27Noeline O'Brien was found unconscious, suffering from severe hypothermia.
05:33Rescuers were unable to revive her.
05:36Her two children, Jude and Julian, were also hypothermic, but survived the ordeal.
05:43The family's day out had turned into a nightmare, ending in the tragic death of a mother,
05:50due to the simple but fatal combination of darkness and cold.
05:56Goydon Pot.
05:58On December 31, 1957, a 20-year-old art student named Brian Andrew Kerr arrived at Goydon Pot in North
06:07Yorkshire.
06:07He had a strange and ambitious plan, to camp alone inside the notoriously flood-prone cave
06:14for six days, with a planned return on January 5, 1958.
06:20He never came back.
06:22When he failed to return, a search was initiated.
06:25Inside the main chamber of Goydon Pot, rescuers found some of his belongings.
06:30Two sweaters, an anorak, a rucksack, food tins, and a single boot.
06:37His wallet, found in the anorak, contained four 1,000 French franc notes,
06:43raising immediate questions about his intentions.
06:46A sleeping bag was never located.
06:51Records show that on January 5, the day Brian was due to exit,
06:55the cave system was in full flood.
06:57The search for Brian Kerr was extensive.
07:01Over the next two decades, cave divers explored all nine sumps in the system,
07:06but no trace of him was ever found.
07:09Nope.
07:09The police, in an attempt to understand the cave's hydrology,
07:13placed two life-sized dummies into the cave during a flood.
07:18They, too, disappeared without a trace.
07:22The power of the water in Goydon Pot is legendary.
07:26On one occasion, 12 sheep were washed into the cave,
07:30and none were ever seen again.
07:33The official inquest concluded that Brian had most likely drowned in the flood.
07:39However, the discovery of the French currency
07:42and the complete absence of a body have fueled a second theory,
07:46that he faked his own death and started a new life elsewhere.
07:50There were even unsubstantiated sightings of him in France shortly after he vanished.
07:57Temple of Doom
07:59On March 1, 2016, a 26-year-old tourist from Spain
08:03joined a small group for a guided cavern dive in Calavera Cenote,
08:07also known as the Temple of Doom, just outside Tulum, Mexico.
08:12The group, led by a local guide, also included two women from Germany.
08:15They entered the water around 2 p.m.
08:18for what was supposed to be a routine exploration of the cenote's sunlit entrance cavern.
08:22Cavern diving allows divers without full cave certification
08:26to experience the overhead environment while remaining within sight of an exit.
08:30A continuous guideline is laid from the open water,
08:33serving as a crucial lifeline back to the surface.
08:36About 30 minutes into the dive,
08:38the two German divers realized the Spanish man was no longer with them.
08:42The guide and the two women searched for him, but he was gone.
08:46They surfaced and alerted the authorities.
08:48A special rescue unit was dispatched,
08:50but the initial search on March 1st found nothing.
08:53The following day, rescue divers re-entered the cenote.
08:56At 5 p.m., they located the man's body deep within the cave system.
09:01According to the guide,
09:03the young man had failed to follow the most critical rule of cavern and cave diving.
09:08He had strayed from the guideline.
09:09In the labyrinthine passages of the underwater cave,
09:13it is easy to become disoriented.
09:15By leaving the rope, he had left his only path back to safety,
09:18and in the darkness of the cave, he ran out of air and drowned.
09:22.
09:22.
09:22.
09:24.
09:24.
09:25.
09:31.
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