Below and beyond

Editorial: Grant Condon

Photography: Senior Constable Chris Morris

Like the rest of the world in June 2018, Search and Rescue Squad members were watching and studying the captivating images of 12 young Thai boys and their soccer coach trapped in a dark, muddy cave 800 metres below the surface of a mountain.

The team became stranded in the cave after flash flooding caused by torrential tropical rain cut off their exit.

Between them and freedom stood a daunting reality.

The journey out of the cave was around 3 kilometres long and while half the escape would be carried out on foot, the other half would be traversed in or under water.

Such were the dangers of the rescue mission, a former member of Thailand's elite Navy SEAL died while attempting to store oxygen tanks along the escape route.

That would be the only death of the ordeal, however, as the 12 boys and their coach were miraculously rescued from the cave in a dramatic three-day mission.

The inspirational rescue highlighted the need for Victoria Police’s Search and Rescue Squad to work more closely with agencies from other states.

The Victorian squad first began training with its South Australian counterpart in 1991 and continued to do so until about 2008.

The cross-border training then endured an almost decade-long hiatus before resuming in 2017, prior to last year’s Thailand incident.

While the Victorian Search and Rescue Squad hasn’t been required to work alongside South Australian officers on any recent large-scale operations, it is often called upon to help north of the border.

As the Murray River falls within the state boundary of New South Wales, Victoria Police’s Search and Rescue Squad is often requested to attend tasks on NSW’s behalf due to limited resources and large distances.

As recently as March this year, the squad worked in conjunction with NSW in the Murray River at Mildura searching for a man who had drowned.

It’s this type of incident that sees the Victorian squad frequently embark on deep dive training exercises to simulate rescue and recovery operations.

The most recent exercise saw Victoria Police divers cross the border to South Australia to broaden their skills.

Victoria Police’s Search and Rescue Squad members joined the South Australia Police Water Operations Unit and the New South Wales Police Diving Unit for a nine-day, ground-breaking exercise where divers trained for real-world scenarios such as searching for the victims of drowning, homicide or misadventure, and locating evidence or lost property.

“The main emphasis for this training is to develop working relations with other states to enable us to work together if a largescale incident were to occur in Australia like

an aircraft or cruise liner accident, or even an overseas incident like that of the recent Thailand cave rescue,” Search and Rescue Squad Senior Constable Chris Morris said.

Utilising South Australia’s unique diving locations, including Kilsby Sinkhole, Pines Sinkhole, Allendale Sinkhole, One Tree Sinkhole and Piccaninnie Ponds, participants endured hours working in a range of challenging conditions, encountering freezing water, varying rates of visibility, underwater caves and vegetation.

They did it all while plunging to 50 metres below the surface, the maximum depth to which police can dive.

“The main lesson from diving in the limestone cave systems is the need to control your buoyancy,” Sen Const Morris said.

“With some sinkholes going to depths of 120 metres, you have to be able to maintain your depth and not cause any disturbance to your surrounds.

“Stirring up the sediment reduces your visibility, which can be an issue when diving in the confined spaces of sinkholes.”

The clear water in bodies like the Kilsby Sinkhole – once used by the government for underwater weapons testing – are a rarity for

Victoria Police’s Search and Rescue Squad, which regularly trains at places such as Lake Eildon where dark, muddy waters and steep slopes hide large trees and other obstacles.

Diving at 50 metres there is so dark, you may as well have your eyes shut.

A torch does not help, as the light cannot penetrate through the silt-filled water.

“Most diving in Victoria is referred to as black water diving, offering next to no visibility in dams and rivers, including the Yarra,” Sen Const Morris said.

“South Australia was a whole new experience, diving in crystal clear freshwater environments with visibility up to 40 metres.

“As divers, we need to maintain currency and experience in diving to depth and within different environments and this training did exactly that.”