Call ended fears

Press, 12 July 1980, Page 1

Call ended fears

A telephone call at 5 a.m. is usually taken with apprehension, but not for the three Christchurch households yesterday who were waiting to hear about their sons lost in flooded caves on the West Coast. , “It was not the telephone call we were worried about, but a policeman knocking at the door,” said Mr E. Kevern yesterday. “I am overjoyed to have Greg home again. My nerves are really frayed because the telephone has been going non-stop for days,” Mrs G. Houston said. “Everyone has been fantastic over the last two days, and there are a lot of people we would like to thank,” Mr Kevern said. Mr B. Holyoake and his son, Michael, had decided to drive to Berlins to see how the rescue, attempts were going when they heard on their car radio at Culverden at 5 a.m. yesterday that the three youths were safe. For the three — Gregory Houston, Steven Holyoake, and lan Kevern — the biggest surprise of the ordeal was the route the searchers had taken to reach them. “We knew that no-one could get in through the drain while the water was so high. We were not expecting them to come when they did,” Mr Kevern said. The youths had been in the cave for 65 hours before they were rescued at 3 ajn. yesterday by experienced cavers who had spent the night tunnelling into the cave system. “We knew the water would not get to us, it was just a matter of waiting it out until the levels went down,” Mr Kevern said. Since the Inangahua earthquake, which blocked the entrance, it was thought there was only one way into the system. The three youths were just about to heat water over a candle when Mr Holyoake thought he heard voices. “You hear noise all the time in a place like that so we did not take very much notice, but I decided to give a blast on my whistle — and the next thing, we could make out the lights of rescuers’ helmets,” Mr Kevern said. “We were worried at times by the river’s rising and falling, but we kept a check on the levels throughout,” Mr Houston said.

The youths entered the cave' at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, having left a message with the proprietor of the Berlins Hotel advising him to get in touch with Mr Tony Bridge, of the Canterbury Caving Group, if they were not out by Wednesday morning. It took the three youths two hours to reach the lake inside the cave, after stopping for lunch.

They carried on for a short time, and although they knew the water was rising slightly they were not

concerned. However when they turned back they found that the water level had risen above the chalk marks left on a rock in the maze. After getting back through the maze without difficulty, they turned into what is usually a dry passage and found it flooded to the roof. By 4.30 p.m. they had managed to get back past the lake to the second cavern. This is where they stayed until rescued.

All except Mr Kevern had a wet suit and the three managed to keep warm by heating water with a candle and staying huddled together. There was also plenty of room for more vigorous exercises. Once they realised they might be in for a long wait they rationed their food. As they had intended to spend only six hours in •the cave, they had eaten about half of their food while lunching beside the lake. When rescued they had about a quarter of their rations left and were confident they they could

have lasted another two days. By only having their lights on every two hours the youths also had plenty of light left when rescued. “We spent the first part of our stay talking about university and other subjects common to us all, but the latter part of our time in the cave was mainly in silence. Greg had a watch and so we were able to keep track of the time,” Mr Kevern said. Although the rescued trio had to wade through neck-, deep water and crawl along narrow passages it took them only an hour to reach the surface. “It was a bit of anticlimax, coming out of the dark of the cave into the

dark of the night, but we were really pleased to be rescued,” Mr Houston said. “We had been caving in the area since Saturday, but we did not actually have the forecast for Tuesday. It was foggy and misty, but there was no indication of what was to follow,” Mr Kevern said, referring to the cloudburst that pushed the levels of the rivers so high. The youths were grateful for the assistance they had received in the rescue, from telephonists to the searchers. None of the - three youths is keen to return to caving immediately, but the ordeal would not mean an end to their pursuit, they said.