TRAPPED

                           

NOTE: This story is based on Author's fiction. There's no historical references or real-life Incidents.

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

GOBICHETTIPALAYAM

A 45-year-old Akshin was very passionate in scuba diving. So, he also thought of sharing this with his 20-year-old son Roshan. So that year, on Diwali, he gave a surprise gift to his son and that gift was scuba diving tanks. So now both father and son were eager to use the scuba diving tanks.

On the next day morning, they planned to go scuba diving with that.

So the next morning both father and son woke up and took all their equipment and went to the near diving site. But only when they went there, they came to know, that the dive site gate was locked. Rohsan decided to take up scuba diving anyway.

Now they decided to go to another diving site. Actually this also located under the wildlife management area in Sathyamangalam. Not only that, all the hunters, hikers and divers, it will be open for 24-to-7 for them and he knows it. So both of them took their car and went towards that park.

They went to the entrance of that place and the park was opened as they thought. So they started going through that forest road. After going a little further finally, they came near Moyar river, where they were supposed to go.

They stopped the car and started pulling on all the equipment for scuba diving. After that, they walked on the path above the river. That pathway went a little further over the river and stops where they want to dive. While walking on that pathway, they started passing many warning sign boards. What was there on that warning boards mean, "If you are not an experienced diver, don't dive on this." Because this river is not an ordinary river.

It is a very scary and deadly river. Amongst the diving community, it's called as "The Sorrow of diving." Since, it's prone to sudden flash floods. There are many adventures games in this world.

So Akshin and his son Roshan, both of them are going to such a dangerous adventures.

Now the river where they gone looks very ordinary from above. But, inside the river, a tunnel will go straight under the earth, and this is the only way to get in and out of it. Expert divers will go through this hole only and there will be a guideline while going inside. They will follow that and go. After following it and going a little further, the light will start to fade. After entering through that small tunnel, a big opening called ballroom will come. How bigger the opening means, after coming to that ball room, if you torch the light around you, you can see no wall around. Such a big place, that is, it seems like an endless distance. In that ballroom, it will feel like being an outer space. If you follow the guideline and go below 130 feet from there, there will be a warning board at the end. What was there in that board means, "Stop, prevent your own death! Do not go beyond this. Nothing is there to leave your life here." Basically, it is the last chance to easily go to surface. Because after this warning board, this cave will split into two. It starts to go like a very small tunnel. That to, not even without a pitch of light and will be in a pitch black color. Like that. (Disclaimer: This paragraph is fictional one, used for the story. In real, this cave is not there)

Using the blueprint of that tunnel, if someone goes through that tunnel, it will go 300 feet down, at some stage. It is so dangerous to go down this danger sign. Besides this, if you go under this danger sign means, a current will be running down. Current means not the electricity. It's a water stream under the water. To say it correctly, it's like a dragging thing. Suppose if you miss that guideline and got struck in that current means, that current force will pull us inside. So we cannot swim opposite and come out. Even if we come out, in that pitch sound, without the guideline, to come out to the surface, you can't find that one little tunnel to come outside. So, 99.9 percentage, it's very difficult to live. (Disclaimer: A reminder, once again. This paragraph is fictional, used for the story. In real, this cave does not exist.)

Akshin and his son Roshan. When both of them were walking in that path way, they passed by many warning signs. But, they didn't even notice it. Neither of them are expert divers. In fact, that 15-year old boy was not even a certified diver. This is going to be his first dive.

Now before jumping into that river, Roshan said to his girlfriend Akshitha in a whatsapp text, "I'm in the Moyar river and now we both are going to dive. As soon as I come out, I'll call you."

After that, he kept the phone aside and both of them jumped into the pond from the pond's pathway. Then slowly they began to enter the only small entrance to the Moyar River's tunnel. Now it's been a while after they went. Now Akshitha kept on waiting there.

But there's no call or text from Roshan. Now it started getting dark. So she thought that she could not wait anymore and went to the Moyar river in Sathyamangalam to check. When she went and looked there, she saw the car that they came. But both father and son was not there. Without any delay, she immediately informed the police.

The police also came there. The professional divers was also brought there and they started looking for them. Now the divers went inside through that small entrance. They swim through the tunnel a

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nd entered the ball room. As soon as they entered, they were holding the guideline and hit the flashlight. They started checking around.

Because these professional divers know, and they have seen many incidents like this. All these incidents happen when the victims come near the entrance. They will come till the entrance thinking that they might escape somehow. But eventually they ran out of oxygen, and die within a few steps to hold their lives.

So like this only they checked here too. Similarly, there the body of Roshan, in the entrance just a six feet away, was floating by hitting the ceiling near the hold. Roshan activated his water wings which is an emergency device. Actually why is that mean, if you ran out of air in the oxygen tank. But if you have a long distance to reach the surface, when you activate these emergency water wings, it will bring you up soon.

And the mouth piece was out from Roshan's mouth. When they checked the air level in his tank, it is clear that there was no air in that tank. After finding his body, the experts come back to that guideline again. Now they started swimming down from the top of the ball room. There they found the body of Akshin.

His body was there in a small sand dune there. His mouth piece was also out of his mouth. When they checked his tank, that tank also had no air in it and Roshan's body was near that famous warning board.

Stop, prevent your own death! Don't go any further!

When seeing the gadgets of both Roshan and Akshin, it is clear that both of them have gone below 130 feet. To say for reference, 0-130 feet is called as recreational diving. It means diving for entertainment. But that is dangerous too. They call it as phobia, some are afraid of heights. Some people are afraid of the dark. Likewise, when you are under the water, a fear will come in your mind. That is called as Thalassophobia. I personally experienced it. Even while taking a bath, if I close my eyes and think that I'm in under water, I can't even breathe and I start to breath very fast.

It is scary to see deep water. So, when you are doing recreational diving, suddenly if you get scared, then that's if you can't do anything. We will rush and throw the mouth piece without knowing it. After that, the water will flow through the nose and mouth and will die a very horrible death. But what is the benefit of diving at 0 to 130 feet means, like how you breathe on the ground when you're outside, similarly, you can breath normally.

No special training is required. It is enough, not to fear. But if you want to go below this 130 feet means, you should mix a special gas and it requires a special equipment. Apart from that, very importantly special training is required. But none of this is present in Akshin and Roshan.     

The investigation has been started by the police of Sathyamangalam and it is determined as an accident. Then the Inspector of police came up with a theory that this is what happened to them to the media, when they questioned him.

"Akshin and Roshan both of them went to that Ball room through that entrance. After that, from the ball room, they went down. That's where the warning board is." Showing the blueprint of that cave to the media, he explained: "A cave like this will be divided into two sides from the warning board. That too a very small intrusion. So they went through a tunnel between those two tunnels. And they have gone below 230 feet. At that depth, the things that happen to divers. Nitrogen Narcosis like drunk symptoms. It's that kind of situation. So in a situation like that. How long have they been there? How much air they have used? How much air is left? They don't know anything. So they came back to the ball room, and when they returned back, they would have known that they were about to run out of oxygen. And Roshan's oxygen tank, must have run out first."

Roshan knew he was running out of oxygen in his tank, and might showed it to his father. Then he took his mouth piece and might helped his son to breathe. This is called as buddy breathing. Both of them breathed like this and might came up for a short distance. But now his oxygen also might be completely over. So he must have given the last little bit to his boy. After that, Akshin died of suffocation and his body went down. Now with that last breathe, Roshan is swimming up fast. That's when he released his emergency water wings. But when he went up due to nervousness, he must have missed the guidelines. Since he missed the guideline, as soon as he reached the upper ceiling, from there, he might not be able to find that small hole to go to the surface.

So he must have started looking for that small hole. At last, he would have died of suffocation as he couldn't find it. Because of those water wings, Roshan's body didn't go down.    

EPILOGUE

 People in the western countries will like this type of adventures more. They like to travel a lot and visit new places. So in these kinds of adventures, there are lots of very dangerous adventures. For example: Free soloing: Climbing high mountains with bare hands, Similarly, base jumping: Jumping down from high mountains, Edge walking: Walking in the edge of high places. And there is another one called cliff camping. It is the most dangerous thing among all. They put up a hanging tent in a mountain and sleep in it. Think about how it will feel. Next is cave exploring: To go in and come out of a narrow hole under the ground.