I know of three separate cases in the past couple of years in which roughly the same scenario played out: divers get involved with a major siltout causing buddy separation, one team member either gets our or is never in the situation, and that diver leaves the buddy and heads for the exit, looking for help. In one case, that help successfully rescued the divers. In another case, the help encountered the exiting diver who appeared to have been on the way to self rescue. In the third case the diver in toruble got out and died just before reaching the end of the cave, meaning that he probably would have lived if his buddy had not left to get help. I am also thinking of another incident a few years ago in which one diver went into a restriction that was beyond the abilities of his buddy. The buddy eventually went out looking for help, and his buddy was eventually found dead in a location far from the restriction in which he was last seen.
I am not looking to revive any of the specifics of those incidents. I am curious about the issue in a more generic sense. In my cave training, I was of course trained in the lost buddy procedure, but I don't recall being trained in the "buddy is stuck somewhere in a mucked up mess" procedure. I am wondering what kind of thoughts people have on what they would do. I imagine a lot of responses will begin with "It depends..." OK, then--on what does it depend in your mind?
I am not looking to revive any of the specifics of those incidents. I am curious about the issue in a more generic sense. In my cave training, I was of course trained in the lost buddy procedure, but I don't recall being trained in the "buddy is stuck somewhere in a mucked up mess" procedure. I am wondering what kind of thoughts people have on what they would do. I imagine a lot of responses will begin with "It depends..." OK, then--on what does it depend in your mind?