From Ridus.ru:
A female urban explorer has been found alive after disappearing in a Moscow sewer
The female urban explorer, who went missing on the 18th of October in a Moscow sewer has been found alive, according to Interfax’s source in law enforcement. As the Emergencies Ministry for the capital stated before, they received the the information about the missing first year student from the Geological Exploration Faculty of Moscow State University, Polina Profokieva on the 18th October at about 22:30. According to a friend of the girl, she entered the sewer at Khoroshevskoye Shosse, building 43a at around 13:00 and she had not been in contact until this point, the report said.
Three emergency rescue teams from the state companies Mosvodokanal, Mosvodostok, and the Emergencies Ministry arrived on the scene. According to a source in the agency, after the girl entered the sewer, she was knocked over by an underground flow of water and taken down the length of the sewer, and then she got stuck in a small part of the sewer.
“The victim was found alive not long before 2 am Moscow time on Friday. Physically, she was all in one piece and uninjured, but she was in a serious psychosis from the fear of the experience”, the source said. According to him, the rescuers are now working to get her out.
At the end of August in 2011, two women disappeared during an illegal excursion into the capital’s sewers. One of those on the excursion reported the incident after getting to ground level himself, and then called “01”. The two hapless women were found underground safe and well. It turned out that due to an increase in the level of sewer water, their communications were washed away.
[Note: 01 is the Russian equivalent of 999 or 911]
According to the head of Moscow’s Fire & Rescue centre, world class rescuer Aleksander Telenkov, walking in underground passages and other structures are fraught with danger, and can end badly for urban explorers. “These guys are lucky that we found them in time. One of them had managed to break free and shout something like ‘We’re sinking!'”, Telenkov said about the incident in August, in an interview with the agency.
According to him, underground sewers are a very specific and dangerous environment, and often urban explorers are not aware of the risks. “For example, if it rains above ground, even if it’s not in the area that they entered the sewer, then the peaceful sewer can turn into a raging river. This is what happened in this situation. They went out on their excursion, and it rained above ground. In literally in 5-10 minutes, the trickle under their feet turned into a raging torrent which carried them away”, explained the expert, underlining that if the rain had gotten heavier, and the young man had not called for help in time, “they would not have been found later, or their corpses would have surfaced somewhere, or maybe even they wouldn’t.” “These big storm sewers can turn in a few minutes into a mountain river. If a person disappeared in there, and, God forbid, got swept away, then the body would probably never even be found”, warns Telenkov.
He also mentioned the possibility of communications breaking down. According to him, this is the main problem when searching for people underground.
According to Telenkov, the most attractive places for the urban explorers are concentrated around the centre of Moscow. “Some people are looking for Ivan the Terrible’s library, some for the cellars of the NKVD [Stalin’s secret police]”, he said, adding that the centre of town is worse in terms of rescue operations. According to him, in the new areas, all of the sewers are well known, there are blueprints for all of them, but in the centre of town, reliable information is only available in 70% of cases. “Nobody really knows where all of these old cellars come out. The second problem is that all of the building work is old, it’s a dilapidated place”, underlined the rescuer.
Comments from Ridus.ru:
aleksandr449:
Mmm, she needs a wash now… and there’s tuberculosis around…
a-spen:
I hope this stupid moron covers the cost for all the search expenses out of her own pocket
champion22: (responding to above)
And when kids get lost in the forest and they go looking for them with helicopters? Do they need to pay for aviation fuel? Or if a parachutist doesn’t land well, and breaks a leg, and they need an ambulance. Should they pay for that from their own pocket? And if a gymnast falls from the boards and breaks his back? And will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair? Should he pay double the taxes, after all, public transport has to be modified for his sake?
aleksandr449: (responding to above)
Let’s start to give drug addicts sick pay for overdoses!!!
alex-3623: (responding to above)
This isn’t a fair comparison. One is an unfortunate accident, particularly when you consider the job. The other is a stupid search to find adventure in one’s own arsehole, just for a bit of fun. Yeah, it’d be good to pay for it.
AndreySabelzub: (responding to above)
They pay with the risk they take, and sometimes with their lives, and the principle of offering help depending on some kind of criteria (importance to society, professional utility, or political ideas) I think is pure idiocy.
alex-3623: (responding to above)
So offer them help. And then reclaim the expenses after the rescue. Maybe through a court.
Wilson: (also responding to champion22)
Children don’t know what they’re doing, the rest of the examples are linked to LEGAL activities. But when this fainting idiot went down where she shouldn’t have, her problem.
ghostscat:
TP
advocate441:
Is she the “picture of the day”? Oh, you mean Moscow urban explorers!
