A 61-year-old man died from a medical emergency in the hard-to-reach Falkensteiner Cave on the Swabian Jura. A major rescue operation involving over 100 personnel arrived too late. His companions were rescued unharmed.
The 61-year-old was about 1300 meters deep in the Falkensteiner Cave in Reutlingen district with a group of six visitors and three tour guides when the medical emergency occurred. Grabenstetten Mayor Patrick Docimo said retrieving the body would take several more hours. Police stated: »No indications of third-party culpability or blameworthy behavior by others were found.«
Bergwacht mountain rescue and emergency services rushed to the scene with specialists. The approach over rough terrain took about one and a half hours, with vertical drops to navigate inside and no radio reception. Over 100 rescue personnel were deployed in total.
The Falkensteiner Cave is a wild active water cave from which the Elsach river emerges. Access has been officially banned since 2018 due to flash flood risks and is only possible with special permission from Grabenstetten municipality. This is not the first major rescue there; in summer 2019, a guide and client were saved after 24 hours, and last May two men were trapped by rising water.
