The Most Painful Cave Deaths Of All Time

this video is sponsored by War Thunder William Coughlin it was May 28th 1993 when 26-year-old William coflin with a newfound passion for caving decided to visit a cave in Kentucky with his friends James and Kevin the cave was divided into two sections the historic tour which was accessible to most visitors and the more dangerous wild tour reserved for experienced and daring people after completing the easier historic tour the guide asked if they wanted to proceed with the more challenging wild tour once they agreed they were required to sign a document acknowledging the risks involved and

absolving The Operators of any responsibility this should have been the first red flag and Kevin decided to opt out returning to the safer area the remaining group now consisting of William James and four other participants was led by the guide into the wild tour he stressed the importance of staying close and reminded them of the potential dangers as they descended into the lower sections of the cave they encountered a 30-ft hanging cable ladder with wooden rungs after climbing down and going a bit forward there was a second shorter ladder at the bottom of of the

second ladder the guide informed the group that the official tour had ended he mentioned they could explore nearby passages if they wished but noted that they were running behind schedule and that he needed to step away briefly for a phone call he left the group at the base of the ladder and this is when William decided to explore a passage he had noticed earlier he discussed it with James who agreed and William attempted to climb back up the second ladder however the climb proved difficult he was 6t tall and weighed 220 lb struggling to ascend

William decided to wait for the guide instead As Time passed and the guy didn't return William attempted to climb the ladder again tragically halfway up he lost his grip and fell violently striking his head on a protruding Rock before landing hard on the ground blood began pooling from his head and James rushed to help him although William remained conscious he was delirious and visibly stunned when the guide finally returned he instructed the group to climb back out the way they came however William's condition made this impossible James frustrated demanded the guide call a cave rescue

team but the guide dismissed the idea insisting that the group work together to get William out James began to suspect the guide was avoiding involving authorities perhaps to prevent Panic among other visitors the group decided their best option was to bypass the second ladder entirely and take an alternative route through a narrow previously mapped Corridor not part of the official tour with teamwork they managed to navigate the initial section carrying William with them however the real challenge came when they reached a rough sharp v-shaped passage which made gripping difficult when it was Williams turn he

went in head first but his size made it an extremely tight fit halfway through he became stuck and realized he couldn't move forward or backward trapped in a horizontal position with his arms pinned beneath him he began to panic the tightness of the passage compressed his chest making it difficult for him to breathe the group's attempts to pull him out were feudal as Panic set in the guide instructed James to exit the cave and inform the owner of the situation James rushed to the surface but the owner appeared reluctant to involve authorities the guide finally

recognizing the severity of the situation went out to get a medkit and to call for emergency services it took 3 hours for rescue and medical personnel to arrive meanwhile James stayed by William's side trying to keep him calm but William's responses grew slower and more slurred until he eventually stopped responding altogether when Rescuers reached William they faced immense challenges the downward angle of the passage made it difficult to revive him they brought in heaters to protect him from hypothermia and began evacuating the rest of the group leaving only James behind to witness what was happening

to his friend a pulley system was installed to try to free William but every tug caused him immense pain so much so that he once again started groaning in agony the rescue team worked tirelessly throughout Saturday but after 17 hours of efforts William was tragically pronounced dead it took an additional 7 hours to extract his body from the cave I wanted to take this segment to announce today's sponsor War Thunder which makes videos like these possible if you don't know War Thunder is the most comprehensive vehicle combat game ever made and it's also available for

free on PC consoles and mobile devices it has an incredibly wide range of choice with over 2500 tanks playing helicopters and ships of 10 major Nations ranging from bip planes and armored cars of the 1920s to the fighter jets and main battle tanks of today not only are the vehicles incredibly detailed but the whole game with its realistic graphics and authentic sound effects is incredibly immersive to be honest it's the best game for fans of military history my favorite feature is the in-depth customization with countless camouflages historical markings and decorations for all types of vehicles

including Community created ones you can join the 70 million people community in Epic PVP battles by using my links in the description or in the pinned comment if you've never played before or you haven't played for at least 6 months and you're on PC or console then when you sign up using my link you'll get a massive bonus pack with multiple premium Vehicles an exclusive vehicle decorator called the eagle of Valor 100,000 silver lions and 7 Days of premium account however this bonus is available only for a limited time so you have to be quick

thanks to War Thunder for sponsoring this video hermit cave incident it was April 5th 1999 when 21-year-old Robert Kennedy from Oklahoma set out on what was supposed to be a normal overnight camping trip near hermit cave he was accompanied by two others his step-brother Richard and their mutual friend Ben during the night they gathered around a campfire and discussed the nearby cave sharing Legends and stories about its mysterious reputation the next morning as they were packing up to head home their curiosity about the cave got the better of them the cave was largely unmapped adding

an air of intrigue so Robert proposed a quick exploration Ben however had to leave early for work so he headed back home leaving Robert and Richard to decide for themselves Robert and Richard entered the cave through its relatively large main entrance without much difficulty inside Robert spotted one of the rumored side passages they had been talking about and decided to explore it the narrow passage was too tight for more than one person so Richard decided to wait outside the cave Robert promised not to go too deep and assured Richard he'd be back soon as Robert

crawled forward he encountered a section of the cave that was about 150 ft long and full of tight tight curves making progress challenging the real trouble began when he reached a particular Point called the keyhole formation this section was especially dangerous because it was impossible to exit legs first once passed unaware of this Robert continued forward but when the passage narrowed even further he decided it was time to turn back returning to the keyhole formation Robert realized something terrible he couldn't pass through it feet first his only option was to move forward through the even

tighter crevice hoping the cave would widen enough Beyond it for him to turn around what he didn't know was that the crevice sloped downward at a 30° angle exhausted Robert squeezed through the space exhaling all the air from his lungs just to fit after several pushes he reached a horrifying realization he was stuck gravity was working against him and every attempt to move only worsened his situation desperate Robert began yelling for help but Richard waiting outside the cave couldn't hear him worried after some time Richard ventured into the cave by himself though he had no

flashlight because Robert had taken the only one crawling in complete darkness Richard called out for Robert who immediately yelled back letting him know he was trapped in struggling to breathe realizing he couldn't reach his step brother in the pitch black Richard left the cave to call for help and about an hour later a team of 10 Rescuers arrived and began assessing the situation the primary problem was Robert's location he was trapped in an extremely deep area approximately 150 ft from the Cave's main entrance this meant that drilling a shaft from above wasn't an option so

the only way to reach him was through the inside of the cave The Rescuers themselves began experiencing breathing difficulties due to the tight space so they installed a ventilation system to pump warm air into the passages only one rescuer could work at a time due to the Cave's tightness and armed with manual tools they began trying to widen the keyhole formation however the lack of space severely limited their maneuverability and time was running out Robert's breathing became more difficult and he eventually stopped cooperating making faint gurgling sounds a sign of potential Suffocation after hours of

effort The Rescuers managed to excavate Through the Keyhole formation and reach Robert's feet though unconscious they felt a faint pulse which gave them enough hope to try to get him out as quickly as possible they immediately tried to pull him free but unfortunately the attempt failed a pulley system was considered but the caves Limestone and gypsum walls were too fragile to support the tension with no other options they continued digging around his body which took an additional hour when they finally freed Robert they rushed him outside where paramedics were waiting tragically it was too late

after 5 hours of Relentless rescue operations Robert Kennedy was pronounced dead black cave tragedy in April 1995 Thomas Edward Benning decided to visit black cave in Arizona having explored the cave before he felt confident that this would be a relatively safe trip he entered the cave alone equipped only with an electric Miner lamp and no helmet the first part of the cave was familiar to him and he navigated it without any issues however at one point he noticed a secret side passage that caught his attention drawn by curiosity Thomas strayed from the main route he

usually took and began exploring the darker narrower passage after venturing deeper into the unfamiliar passage for some time Thomas decided it was time to turn back but to his growing concern he realized that an hour had passed and he was completely lost no matter how hard he tried he couldn't retrace his steps to the familiar route as Panic began to set in his situation worsened his lamp started to Flicker and eventually went out leaving him in total darkness miles underground with no source of light Thomas turned to his last resort a box of matches striking

one he managed to create a faint glow that barely illuminated the Rocks around him it wasn't much but it was better than nothing he continued forward using one match after another but the matches burned out quickly and soon he ran out entirely leaving him once again surrounded by absolute Darkness despite the circumstances Thomas refused to give up he devised a plan to leave behind small useless items as markers to avoid circling back to the same spots starving dehydrated and utterly exhausted he pressed on until he encountered the Fisher a narrow crack in the Rock barely

4T deep believing this might be his only chance to reconnect with the familiar route or find a larger opening he decided to enter it feet first as he lowered himself into the Gap his hips dropped below the narrowest point and he suddenly realized his mistake he was completely wedged his hips were firmly stuck between the rock walls rendering him immobile using every last ounce of his strength Thomas tried to lift himself back up but it was no use he was now trapped alone in the dark with no one able to hear him days passed and

Thomas remained in the same position growing weaker with each passing moment back home his wife grew increasingly worried when he failed to return she contacted the police who began an extensive search of the caves in the area unfortunately Thomas hadn't told anyone exactly which cave he planned to visit leaving Rescuers to search blindly miraculously Rescuers eventually spotted his car parked near black cave a rescue team entered the cave carefully exploring all the mapped sections they found some of Thomas's belongings including his glasses and shirt but they missed the Secret side passage he had ventured into

amazingly Thomas was still alive at this point though his condition was rapidly deteriorating days passed and with no further progress authorities unfortunately called off the search Thomas was officially declared missing refusing to give up his wife continued pleading with authorities to resume the search she distributed Flyers around the city and reached out to anyone who might have information but unfortunately she wouldn't have known about her husband for a long time it wasn't until December 1996 over a year and a half later that three other cavers exploring black cave stumbled upon Thomas's remains in the dark

narrow passage where he had become trapped zacaton sinkhole incident on April 6th 19 1994 diving Legend Sheek Exley the first person in the world to log over 100 cave Dives set out to break a new depth record his goal was to dive through the zacaton sinkhole in Mexico one of the deepest waterfill sink holes in the world plunging over 1,000 ft shek's passion for deep diving began at a young age when he and his brother would compete to see how deep they could go tragically during one such competition his brother lost Consciousness at around 50

ft and drowned despite this Sheek pursued his love for diving becoming an expert for context the average diver is advised not to descend deeper than 150 ft with 300 ft considered the absolute limit for experienced divers accompanied by fellow diver Jim Bowden Shea meticulously prepared for the record-breaking dive the event Drew TV reporters who wanted to witness this extraordinary feat as the two divers descended into the zacaton sinkhole they wished each other luck although diving together their Dives would be independent Exley had trained for this attempt pushing his limits in previous Dives during one preparation

dive at bushman's hole in South Africa AFC however something weird happened he reached an astonishing depth of 863 ft but experienced alarming symptoms he began hallucinating and his body trembled uncontrollably which are classic signs of highpressure nervous syndrome or hpns hpns typically manifests at depths Beyond 500 ft and is believed to result from the compression of cell membranes in the central nervous system the condition can cause confusion Tremors and even hallucinations making it incredibly dangerous for divers at those depths to mitigate these risks Sheek and Bowden planed to descend slowly carefully switching tanks as they

reached new depths for the first stretch of their dive everything went smoothly however problems began to Arise at around 800 ft Bowden noticed slight trembling in his hands an early warning sign of hpns at 900 ft Bowden encountered another issue his Air Supply was running critically low his tank pressure had dropped to 1,080 PSI far below the expected 1,800 PSI needed to ensure a safe Ascent keep in mind that decompression depending on how deep the divers go can take up to hours which meant that Bowden was now in a life or death situation realizing the

danger Bowden began his Ascent immediately hoping he could make it back to the surface in time Exley however was in even greater trouble at around 880 ft his vision blurred and his body began trembling uncontrollably hpns symptoms combined with nitrogen Narcosis which is a condition akin to being drunk caused by high-press nitrogen began impairing his ability to think clearly to steady himself Exley wrapped his descent line around his arms but his symptoms worsened causing him to breathe more rapidly and deplete his Air Supply at an alarming rate in a desperate move he switched tanks but

at such depths this was not ideal disoriented and overwhelmed by his symptoms Exley became unable to think straight or move Bowden ascending cautiously noticed exley's descent line with unused tanks still attached while concerned he assumed Exley might have successfully reached the sink hole's bottom and was making his way back up slowly however on the surface the support team grew suspicious they observed bubbles rising to the surface but only from one diver Bowden a support diver alarmed wrote on an underwater slate where's Sheek she decided to descend to 250 ft to investigate at 280 ft she

spotted something chilling two small white squares hanging from exley's descent line upon closer inspection she realized they were pages from exley's diving profile tools he had used to meticulously plan his dive the realization was devastating Sheek was stuck somewhere deep below nearly 10 hours after their initial descent Bowden miraculously surfaced surviving his own life-threatening dive Exley however a hero that had previously saved numerous other divers remained in the depths of the zacaton sinkhole 3 days later the recovery team pulled his descent line to the surface bringing exley's lifeless body with it Jim Bowden reached an

extraordinary depth of 915 ft during the dive setting a world record for open circuit scuba diving again thank you to War Thunder for sponsoring this video don't forget to play it for free on PC Playstation Xbox or mobile by using my links in the pinned comment or video description remember new and returning players that haven't played in 6 months will receive a massive Bonus Pack across PC and consoles including multiple premium vehicles and other goodies it's available for a limited time only though so make sure not to miss it