Potholer, 83, stuck in mineshaft for 15 hours

Published on Wednesday 11 May 2011 17:01

A PENSIONER was rescued from an abandoned mineshaft after he was injured in a potholing accident and left unable to even sit for nearly 15 hours.

Jim Salvona, 83, slipped while climbing down a chain ladder into the six-metre deep hole in Bilston Glen, south of Edinburgh, and injured his back.

Unable to either climb back up the ladder or sit down, he was forced to stand throughout the night, with no mobile phone or food, and wait for help to arrive.

Mr Salvona has 50 years potholing experience and an unrivalled knowledge of entrances to disused mineshafts in Scotland. His hobby is charting the locations, sizes and features of those entrances - information which is then used in a map compiled to aid search-and-rescue efforts.

When rescuers found him at 8:30am yesterday he was laughing and joking, despite the back injury, mild hypothermia and having had to stand for more than 14 hours.

Dave Warren, secretary of the Scottish Cave Rescue Association, said: "We have stretchers that wrap around like a mummy and we used one of them to lift him out. He was on the surface by 10:30am. He is joking all the time. Jim is not that tall - about 5ft 4in - but he's a bag of energy."

In some cases, Mr Salvona's findings have led to safety fences being installed to stop children injuring themselves. Mr Warren said: "He knows more about mine entrances in Scotland than any other person. He is generally interested in industrial archaeology, but beyond that a very serious part of what we all do is looking for potential hazards in places that might attract kids.

"Over the last few years we've been looking to build a map of the thousands of mine entrances across Scotland, which can be used in missing persons hunts."

Scottish Cave Rescue member Ross Davidson added: "He's truly amazing, he really is. You can understand why we were a bit worried but it's a happy outcome."

Another rescuer, Bryan Jones, said: "He was in really good spirits and was making light of his predicament. In fact, he was more worried about what his wife was going to do to him."

Mr Salvona had been caving on Tuesday afternoon, but was expected back by his wife Louise by 3pm. When he did not return to their Edinburgh home by 7pm she called the police.

Shortly after midnight a major search of Roslyn Glen, Bilsten Glen and the River Esk was launched, which included Mr Salvona's son and an RAF helicopter. At 5am yesterday, his car was found in Loanhead.

Finally, a searchers found him at 8:30am and within two hours he had been hoisted to safety.Dave Wright, search manager at Tweed Valley mountain rescue, which is manned by volunteers, said: "He slipped and was obviously unable to pull himself out of the situation he was in.

"He was helped by relatively warm temperatures overnight - it was quite mild. He was suffering from mild hypothermia."

He was taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, but his injury is not thought to be serious.