In the week from July 21 to 25, the West Brecon Cave Rescue Team (WBCRT) organised an international cave rescue conference in Penwyllt Wales. For this purpose, the South Wales Caving Club (SWCC) provided its facilities and club rooms for the participants. In addition, a large tent was set up in a nearby quarry for lectures and evening entertainment.

In addition to Britain, cave rescue groups from Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand and Japan were present.

On arrival, Jopo (Brian Jopling) made us familiar with the facilities in the club house and the group's impressive array of rescue equipment, radio devices, directory of cave plans and well equipped rescue vehicle.

MONDAY:

Morning, small groups of excursions into Ogof Ffynnon Ddu and other caves were organised.

Afternoon, the cave rescue structure of the United Kingdom was presented which also gave opportunity for the participants to say a few introductory words about their own groups. Further presentations from the other groups were given on Thursday evening.

Evening, a very pleasant RESCON03 opening ceremony was held in the Dan yr Ogof show cave over an excellent glass of wine.

TUESDAY:

The morning was taken up with a demonstration of the Heyphone which is becoming the standard radio induction device in the UK for cave communication. The demonstration was given for communication between the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu I cave and the Club House.

The afternoon was taken up with a demonstration of various methods of rock removal in the quarry and a demonstration of various stretchers and equipment for extracting injured people from caves.

The late afternoon was interrupted with a genuine rescue call-out for the West Brecon Cave Rescue Team to attend to an accident in the Otter Hole cave which is located about 100 miles west from where we were.

This put the conference on hold for the next one and a half days while our hosts were tied up with the rescue of a young lady with a broken pelvis. There are two main complications in this cave: One is the fact that it is only accessible at low tide and the other is that it is very narrow and very muddy towards the entrance. Needless to say, the rescue was carried out extremely successfully.

Tuesday closed with a most enjoyable evening in which we were entertained by the "Squirts" a very popular local band and everyone had a rather liquid and most enjoyable time.

WEDNESDAY:

As the rescue was now fully in progress, the participants organised their own entertainment which mainly consisted of tours to the surrounding attractions and caves. In the mean time, we were kept updated on the progress of the rescue.

In the evening, presentations on medical aspects of cave rescue were given by the following groups:

1) Gary Evans of the WBCRT, who described the certification method they have, for becoming qualified in "Advanced first aid for cave rescue". The course involves 2 exams (cave rescue and mountain rescue exam), during the course, the participants are continually assessed with the final assessment being done in a cave during a simulated rescue. Some of the topics covered are splints, oxygen application, use of Etinox gas, intra-muscular injection of pain killers and airway management. For the course, a manual and video is provided for the participants to purchase. The certification is valid for 2 years and refreshers are run for basic or advanced certification.

2) Ueli Naegeli from the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft Höllochforschung (AGH)" Switzerland presented the rescue concept for the Hölloch cave which is not a certified course, the reason being that this gives the participants more legal freedom. The training was basically similar to that of the WBCRT with their own training manual. In addition to basic first aid care of fractures and attention to hypothermia, the participants also learn to apply infusions (butterfly) and to use painkilling drugs.

3) Nils Braeunig of the Malteser Cave Rescue Group (Malteser Hoehlenrettung), Germany presented also their rescue training concept which requires a refresher every 3 years. The rescue equipment is specially colour coded to ease identification of primary and follow up equipment. The procedure would be for a team of 2 to be dispatched to the victim with the primary first aid equipment, followed up by a communications team with food and warmth which would place 4 people initially at the victim. Further support would then be called for according to needs. No certification is done.

4) Alexander Maier of the Cave Rescue Group Baden Wuerttemberg (Hoehlenrettung Baden Wuerttemberg e.v.), Germany presented a "Caving Emergency Card" which contains caving relevant first aid information and essential rescue phone numbers. The card has the size of a credit card and the idea is that cavers carry it with them all the time.

5) Leif Sigvardsson of the Swedish cave rescue group presented their concept but he explained that, as they have not yet had any caving accidents they are not so experienced as other groups.

THURSDAY:

The morning was spent with caving tours again and the opportunity was given to catch up on any missed presentations. As the rescue was now more or less over the normal program was able to continue.

The afternoon was spent with more demonstrations of transport possibilities including a special floating stretcher for water transport also more on rock removal was demonstrated.

The evening was used for the participants to present their individual rescue organisations. Presentations came from Poland, Switzerland, Germany, Japan and New Zealand. Later various excellent videos were shown.

FRIDAY:

This was the final official day and was highlighted with a rescue practice in Ogof Ffynnon Ddu carried out by all the delegates under the expert eye of the WBCRT. Due to time restrictions, however, the WBCRT also actively helped.

Finally a very interesting presentation from Tony Rich who explained legal aspects for cave rescuers in the UK and overseas.

The conference finally concluded with a fabulous Pig Roast dinner on Friday evening.

Our thanks and congratulations go out to the organisers for a very interesting and worthwhile congress. It provided lots of opportunities for an exchange of ideas with delegates from many countries.

A particularly good idea was to provide the participants with a CD-ROM of the presentations and details (with photos) of the participants. Also a CD-ROM from the British Cave Rescue Council (BRCC) was made available to the participants.

The rescue call-out on Tuesday was not planned but gave us an excellent first-hand opportunity to see the WBCRO in action. They did a very professional job and extracted the injured person out of a difficult cave effectively with no further deterioration in her condition.

Thanks also go out to the many helpers that supported the WBCRT and the SWCC especially in the kitchen!!