Incident 3rd May 2025

Mendip Cave Rescue were called by Avon and Somerset Police via SARCALL at 19:52 on 3rd May 2025, following a report that a solo cave diver was overdue and hadn't returned from a trip into Stoke Lane Slocker, Stoke St Michael. This cave has an entrance series to a short, free-divable, sump followed by a series of sumps that can only be explored by experienced cave divers.  A team of MCR members made their way to the cave to search the passages available to non-divers, whilst a team of cave divers was assembled to potentially search the cave passage beyond the sumps. Due to the potentially serious nature of the incident, the whole MCR team was put on standby in case there was a need to transport divers and their equipment through the entrance series. Whilst the diving team was getting ready, the search team in the cave located the missing caver between the free-divable sump and the entrance and escorted him back to the surface, cold and tired but otherwise unharmed, and the SARCALL incident was closed at 21:47 with everyone back on the surface.