Cavers Mailing List     № 5690

снова англичане, окончание, надо полагать.

Автор: Michael Voskoboinikov
Дата: 26 Mar 2004

На обоих сайтах есть фотографии, на BBC-шном - еще и схема. Вообще у BBC это как-то все толковее сделано.

Если кто-нибудь переведет на русский - будет совсем хорошо.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13028221,00.html

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CAVERS RESCUED IN MEXICO
 
Six Britons have been rescued from an underground cave in Mexico after spending a week stranded by floodwaters.

But after a health check in hospital, the men were taken into custody by Mexican immigration authorities who are demanding to know why the MoD workers were in the country.

Specialist divers helped the men swim one by one to the surface of the massive cave complex at Cuetzalan during a six-hour operation.

The rescued divers were "in good spirits, happy and intact" and looking forward to a rest before returning home, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said.

Under Mexican migration laws the men could be expelled or jailed if they have broken visa laws.

The MoD spokesman said: "We undertook the trip in good faith as we have done for 20 years without any problems using the same visa that we have always used.

"However, if there is a problem, that is something we are willing to discuss with the Mexican authorities."

Rescued caver Jonathan Sims insisted the team was never in any danger.

"The thing is, everything went as planned," he said. "We thought we might have a problem with the (water) so we put in a plan, we had food in there, communications.

"The unfortunate thing is we got too much media attention."

The five military personnel and their civilian guide had been stuck in the caves since last Wednesday.

The expedition was due to last 36 hours but the route out was blocked after heavy rains raised the water level in the cave.
 
Last Updated: 12:18 UK, Friday March 26, 2004
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3566691.stm

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UK cavers prompt diplomatic row
 
The presence of six British men trapped in a flooded Mexican cave for the past week has provoked a diplomatic row.

Mexican President Vicente Fox wants to know why the cavers - five of whom are military staff - are on tourist visas.

The team, safe in a dry part of the cave, has rejected offers of help from Mexican rescue teams and are awaiting the arrival of UK military divers.

President Fox has instructed his foreign minister to seek clarification about the visas from the UK government.

A "note of protest" would be filed with the British government, he said.

  We are asking the British government to tell us whether these people are military personnel, and if they are, what they are doing there

The Foreign Office confirmed the Mexican ambassador to the UK would lodge a protest, but said: "This is strictly a caving expedition, has no other purpose and any suggestions to the contrary are completely unfounded."

The acting British ambassador to Mexico, Vijay Rangarajan, dismissed concerns that the cavers were doing anything other than exploring as "pure fantasy."

"I think we just need to talk to the Mexican government and find out what their problems are.

"If they're having problems down here, we'll have to look very carefully in the future (to see) if any future permits are needed."

The Ministry of Defence said the men were there during a combined services adventurous training expedition and were not on exercise.

Stephen Whitlock, one of the team above ground, said that although it was an official military expedition to support "adventurous training", the team was there to map the cavern system.

He added: "You've got to disassociate the fact that we're here as military".

Views differ about the need for visas, with a spokesman for Mexico's National Migration Institute saying scientific or exploration teams required special visas in Mexico and laws forbade training exercises by foreign military forces.

However, Mr Whitlock said: "There are no registration requirements for the sport of caving and cave expeditions in the state of Puebla."

Mexican army troops and officials from the migration institute were on hand and had interviewed the Britons about their visa status.

Cave experience


Two divers from the Cave Rescue Organisation - one of whom has extensive experience of the Cuetzalan cave system - flew to Mexico from London on Tuesday morning.
 
They will assess the flooding of the network of about 300 caves and passageways in eastern Mexico.

The trapped men are about a 35-minute walk from the entrance, said Ministry of Defence spokesman Gordon Mackenzie.

They have supplies of food and water and are said to be in good spirits.

If the flood waters do not subside, the divers will take in cave-diving equipment for the men so they can scuba-dive their way out.

The six men have not been officially named, but the brother of one of them, Chris Mitchell, told BBC News Online he was "concerned" about his sibling.

However, Phil Mitchell, 43, a finance director in Palma de Mallorca in Spain, added: "Chris is very well trained and will have been fully prepared for this type of event."
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M.



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