This must be gut wrenching for the rescuers to call off a rescue operation to free a man trapped in an abandoned Nevada mine.

RENO, Nev. — Rescuers ended an attempt to reach a man who was still alive after falling into a deep, unstable mine shaft, saying the effort posed too great a risk to people trying to descend into the pit.

A video camera determined the man was still breathing Friday after plunging 190 feet (58 metres) into the shaft on Wednesday in Jersey Valley, Nevada, northeast of Reno.

A priest had given last rites.

"The mine is so unstable that walls were crumbling and rocks were hitting rescuers on the head when they tried to reach him," JoLynn Worley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, told The Associated Press. "They're people who will make every effort to save someone, but they really can't get to him. It would endanger the lives of rescuers."

Some more news links on this.

kind of reminds me of Rob Hall on Everett back in 1996. Really sucks.

Hopefully a solution can be found

That's really sad. My prayers are with him and his family.

I am not sure that is true. First of all, once again, we are all relying on second hand reports filtered through the media, and none of us has any really decent information.

I can say that the only time in my SAR experience when I was truly in genuine peril was 100 feet down in a crumbling mine shaft in which each twitch of the rope brought down cascading rocks. The bottom of a mine shaft doesn't offer much cover.

We were fortunate because our victims had actually driven their station wagon over the edge and it was upright at the bottom. We could enter the vehicle and stand upright, sheltered by the tailgate. The glass window in the gate was completely shattered by the time we left. I definitely contemplated death down there at the bottom of the shaft and I thought at least I was going to go out doing something worthwhile.

I would tend to agree with the decision. It doesn't seem like there is any realistic hope of retrieving the victim alive. How much risk should one assume to retrieve a cadaver?

That's a incredibly hard decision to make. You can't drill a rescue shaft in a couple of days. My sympathy to both the family and the SAR team.

The family probably knows what the person down the shaft would say if he were able. That can make it harder or easier for the SAR directors. I hope it's the latter.

I just Read about this in the news,It seems The Victim Passed away!

kudos to the SAR team for trying! my hat goes off to those that willingly put themselves in peril to help another. not many of us would be willing to do the same time and again.

The most famous underground rescue was possibly the case of Floyd Collins in 1925. He was exploring a cave and got trapped. Times were hard and a lot of people were desperate for cash. The rescue was groomed and steered into becoming a carnival. The rescue method seems to have been selected more for publicity than speed or effectiveness.

http://www.cavecity.com/cave_city/floyd_collins.htm

There was a fairly good movie made under the name "Ace in the Hole" but renamed "The Big Carnival". Worth seeing. If for no other reason to better understand how rescues can become circuses that are more about profits and publicity, and making the tragedy last, than saving people.

http://www.metalasylum.com/ragingbull/movies/aceinthehole.html

A more recent famous rescue (relatively speaking) was in 1987, when 18-mo-old Jessica McClure fell down an 8" well shaft.

That was always a puzzle to me: she couldn't have stepped into it and gone down with both feet downward. It would seem that she either had to sit on the edge with her feet in the hole and push off, or someone picked her up and dropped her down the hole. But we will never know.

Sue

On the other hand there is the rescue of Emily Davis Mobley from Lechuguilla Cave in the early 90s, which was quite difficult and competently handled, without the sideshows and carnivals.

And there was a more recent, unsuccessful rescue attempt in Nutty Putty Cave in 2009. The decision was made to leave the body in the cave, at the least for several years.

Cave rescue has come a long way from Floyd Collins. But there is no rescue specialty which can present the outlandish and bizarre situations that one finds in cave rescues. They can be as difficult as they come.

Finally, mines should not be confused with caves, especially in rescue situations. Mines are orders of magnitude more unstable and dangerous than caves - just consider the differing ways that the two are formed. Mines are formed instantly (geologically speaking) by blasting while caves are slowly dissolved by acids and running water over thousands of years.

Well said, bacpacjac. That is dangerous work and the SAR should be given full credit for attempting the rescue at great risk to their own lives.

The decison to end the rescue came after two unsuccessful attempts by search teams to descend into the shaft, where Westenskow was trapped in debris, Doran Sanchez, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesman, said Saturday.

An attempt Thursday caused walls of the 100-plus-year-old shaft to crumble and rocks to fall on rescuers, he said."One individual was hit in the head by falling rock and it split his hard hat," Sanchez said. "You're talking about two of the best search and rescue squads in Nevada, and they finally determined there was no way they could safely rappel down."

The story I heard is that she was dropped in.

Jeanette Isabelle

With a 22mo in the house, nothing surprises me at this stage as to what a child can get into and in what position.