Thai cave flood kills eight
Pastor Dale Morgan
Thai cave flood kills eight*
· British survivor tells of 16-hour ordeal on ledge
· Fiance among eight swept away and killed by floods
Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok and Karen McVeigh
Monday October 15, 2007
The Guardian
A young British woman described yesterday how her fiance was swept away
by a torrent of water and drowned as she clung to a ledge in a Thai cave
hit by a flash flood that claimed the lives of five other hikers and two
local guides.
Helena Carroll, 21, from Solihull, near Birmingham, was eventually
rescued after clinging to the craggy face of the pitch black cave for 16
hours.
Her fiance, John Cullan, 24, had saved Ms Carroll when he grabbed her as
she slipped and almost fell as they desperately climbed to escape rising
waters. But she last saw him when he lowered himself into the raging
torrent in an attempt to seek help, fearing they would both die if they
remained in the cave in Khao Sok National Park in southern Thailand.
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"I cannot believe I am the only survivor," she said, hours after her
rescue. "I can't believe my John is dead. One minute I was in what I
thought was the most beautiful place in the world. The next thing there
is death all around me."
The couple had been in the vast Tham Nam Thalu limestone cave complex
for some time before they heard a roar of water and seconds later saw a
German boy aged 10 and one of the guides swept away, followed by a Swiss
couple and their teenage daughters.
Other guides in the area famed for its tigers and ancient rainforest do
not take tour groups to Tham Nam Thalu during the monsoon because of the
dangers of sudden, devastating floods. Police had erected signs warning
against visiting during the rainy season.
But the British couple were oblivious to the risks when they set out
from their simple cottages at Bamboo House, about 40 miles (60kms) from
the lake, on Saturday morning - intent only on another adventure in
their holiday of a lifetime.
"We had to decide whether to put down the money for a house or go on
holiday," said a distraught Ms Carroll, who works for the industry
training provider Empower. "We decided to take a holiday and up until
then it was a dream holiday in the most beautiful place I had ever been to."
The excursion involved a boat trip on Chaiw Lan Lake and an hour-long
trek through the forest, before they reached the cave mouth.
They descended into the chasm using torches handed out by their two Thai
guides to light their way. Ms Carroll said they saw spiders and bats as
they moved through the waterfall-studded cavern before hearing the
torrent behind them. "I saw this rush of water coming towards us," she
said. "John and I started climbing. The first thing we saw was the tour
guide and 10-year-old German boy being dragged away, then the Swiss
couple and their two lovely girls.
"As we climbed I lost my grip and slipped down but John grabbed me and
pulled me up. We kept climbing higher and found a ledge. We were all
alone in the dark. We could not see anything as all the torches had gone."
The couple debated their next move and Mr Cullan, who works in the
asbestos industry, eventually decided he had to raise the alarm even
though his finance believed their best chance of survival was to stay put.
"John said: 'If we stay here we're going to die'. But I said we should
stay," she said. "At least we were safe there. But he decided that he
would get into the current and flow with it. He thought the current
would take him out, then he could bring help to rescue me. He slipped
into the water and that's the last I ever saw of him. He let go and he
was just gone."
Alone in the darkness, Ms Carroll clung to the ledge, shivering and
listening to the rumbling torrent. She lost track of time before she saw
a bright beam of torchlight and cried out to alert the rescuers.
At first she was told only that many people had died and their bodies
had been found eight hours before her discovery yesterday morning. But
it was only when she was taken to the makeshift mortuary that she found
out that she was the only survivor.
"I saw John's body in a box next too one of the beautiful little Swiss
girls," she said. "It was awful. John is a big man - 14 stone - and
everybody remarked how big he was. I wanted to be left alone but it was
impossible.
"I can't believe I am the only survivor. I can't believe my John is
gone. I want to go home as soon as possible, but I want to make sure
John is taken care of."
Ms Carroll called her parents and told them she was fine.
Police identified the foreign victims as a Swiss family, Benno Fisher,
49, Stalder Fisher, 48, Ambarea Fisher, 17, and Sarah Fisher, 15, and
Eddie Gaempe, 10, of Germany. The boy's mother did not go on the trip as
she was ill, but believed it would be safe as he was in the company of
other adults.
One tour operator, who has been taking visitors to the national park for
eight years, said they never travel to the cave during the wet season as
the waterscan quickly rise without warning.
"Our tours to the cave begin at the end of October, when the water is
OK, up until the second week of May," said Paa Nipattong, Trekking Thai
Ecotours manager. "We do not take tourists to Tham Nam Thalu in the
rainy season at all."