By Andrea Lorenz and Corrie MacLaggan
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2007 The Austin American-Statesman
All Rights Reserved
AUSTIN, Texas — Three University of Texas students who had been missing underground for hours were found safe Sunday afternoon inside Airman’s Cave, a narrow limestone cavity that runs parallel to South Lamar Boulevard in Austin.
The students — two women and a man — set out to explore the cave about 11 a.m. Saturday, officials said. The cavers told friends to call for help if they weren’t back by midnight. At 5 a.m. Sunday, the friends called 911.
Rescue workers with Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services and the Austin Fire Department searched with the help of local caving groups. After 11 hours, rescue workers found the students in a stretch of the cave known as Poetry Passage, a rescuer said.
“Really, nothing went wrong except us getting lost,” said one of the students after she emerged . “You can’t go in not knowing what you’re doing. We were prepared.”
Officials did not identify the students. But friends and family members said that the man was Jeff Brown, 20, and that one of the women was Jill Baggerman.
Brown’s mother, Lyn Brown of San Antonio, said she didn’t panic.
“I see no reason in fearing the worst unless you need to,” she said.
Her husband, Jarvis Brown, said Jeff had been spelunking at least two other times.
At 2 miles long, the mazelike Airman’s Cave is by far the longest in Travis County, said Bill Russell, a local cave expert who helped with the rescue effort.
The round-trip trek from the cave’s sole entrance in the Barton Creek greenbelt to the end would take an experienced caver about 12 hours, said Warren Hassinger , an EMS spokesman.
Frank Urias , an EMS division commander , said, “It’s definitely not someplace where an amateur or novice wants to be. It has several areas where it’s very easy to get lost or disoriented in.”
Michael Sisson , a local caver who helped find the students, said Baggerman intentionally left a trail of leaves that led rescuers to the group.
As he called out to the students, he said, “A girl’s voice was just frantically yelling back, ‘Hey, hey, we’re back here,’” Sisson said. “I said, ‘I don’t know where “back here” is. Just keep yelling and I’ll find you guys.’”
Rescue workers escorted the students by van to the clubhouse of an apartment complex near the cave entrance. They ate barbecue that EMS provided, Urias said.
They were evaluated for dehydration but were in “excellent condition,” he said.
Officials did not say how much the rescue cost taxpayers.
The students did not appear scared and “seemed to have faith in the system” that they would be rescued, Urias said.
After resting for a few minutes with family and friends, one of the rescued women said she and her friends wanted to thank the rescuers. She said the students “did a lot of homework” before going into the cave.
The most challenging part of Airman’s Cave is near the beginning: a 16- or 18-inch wide area known as the keyhole or birth canal. Firefighter D.J. Walker said he had to put one arm above his head and the other by his side to wiggle through Sunday. Walker, who weighs 155 pounds, said it was difficult to find rescue workers small enough to fit.
Explorers who make it through the keyhole have to spend much of the trek crawling or sliding along on their bellies, Walker said. In the long stretch of the cave known as Karen Crawl, there’s no room to turn around, Urias said.
The entrance to the cave is a 10-minute hike down a rocky trail in the greenbelt behind the Barton’s Lodge apartment complex.
Rescue workers found one of the students’ cell phones inside the cave Sunday morning, and water bottles were found halfway through the cave, Urias said. One of the students’ cars was spotted in the parking lot at the apartment complex.
The fire and EMS workers used Vietnam War-era phones to communicate with the 15 or so rescuers in the cave, Walker said. The rescuers brought telephone cable into the cave because radios and cell phones didn’t work inside.
Jean Krejca , a member of the Austin caver group UT Grotto, said only 40 or 50 people have made it to the end of Airman’s Cave.
Although some of the area’s many caves are gated and have restricted access because of delicate formations or endangered species, Airman’s Cave is open to anyone, said Justin Shaw, member of the Texas Cave Management Association, a land trust organization.
The cave was named for two airmen from Bergstrom Air Force Base who discovered the entrance in 1971, said Michael Wescott Loder of Deer Lake, Pa., who said he was one of the first people to explore the cave.
Sunday was not the first time rescue crews have been called to Airman’s Cave. A 21-year-old woman was rescued there in July 2006. She was not injured. In 1993, a woman’s leg got stuck in a crevice in the cave. She freed herself before rescue workers reached her. She, too, was not injured.
All three of the students rescued Sunday said they would go in again.
“Absolutely,” Brown said.
“It really is a great cave,” one of the women said. “It’s not dangerous.”