BREAKING NEWS: Rescue diver who saved the Thailand Soccer team is TRAPPED in a cave in Tennessee
- Missing Josh Bratchley is one of the divers credited with saving the lives of 12 Thai soccer players from a flooded cave last year
- He was reported missing after the group surfaced form a dive late on Tuesday night, but the diver was nowhere to be seen
- Authorities were contacted by the group shortly after the conducted their own search of the cavern but failed to find any trace of Whitehouse
- Specialist divers have been summoned to the area to assist with the search. They are expected to delve below the surface as quickly
A member of the diving team that helped to rescue 12 soccer players form a flooded Thailand cave last summer has now gone missing in a Tennessee Cave, police say.
Authorities have launched a rescue operation in Jackson County to save the man, now identified to be Josh Bratchley by the British Cave Rescue Council, from the cave’s depths.
Bratchley is a member of a dive team from the United Kingdom who had been conducting a series of dives inside the submerged cavity for the last few days, ABC News reported.
He was reported missing late on Tuesday night after the group surfaced from a dive and Bratchley was nowhere to be seen.
Whitehouse was among a group of divers from the United Kingdom, said to be exploring the cave in Jackson County for the last few days
Authorities were contacted by the group shortly after the conducted their own search of the cavern but failed to find any trace of him.
Specialty divers have been summoned to the area to assist the rescue mission and will likely plunge beneath the surface as early as Wednesday evening, Chattanooga Hamilton County Rescue Services confirmed.
According to first responders, the cave contains an ‘air bell’ with enough oxygen to last at least 24 hours. They hope Bratchley’s extensive diving experience means he is waiting in that part of the cave to be rescued.
The route to him, rescuers say, is around 400 feet long and 40 feet beneath the surface, with limited visibility. It could take as long as 40 minutes to reach the stranded diver.
Whitehouse, has been a member of the Derbyshire Cave Rescue Organisationconfirmed the missing man to be Josh Bratchley
He was reported missing after the group resurfaced on Tuesday night and found Whitehouse unaccounted for
Specialty divers have been summoned to the area to assist the rescue mission and will likely plunge beneath the surface as early as Wednesday evening
Bratchley was credited among a group of elite international divers involved in the intense operation of 12 young Thai soccer players and their coach in June 2018.
The group entered the cave during low tide, but excessive flooding soon blocked their exit and they were forced to retreat deeper into the cave.
Heavy rains then exacerbated the water levels and rescuers found themselves in a race against time to save the group’s lives.
Following a three-week ordeal, divers eventually found the group – hungry, but alive – huddled on a dry patch of land deep into the cave.
One of the elite divers drowned during the rescue mission.