Incident:Double fatality in Carrabeanga 2000/06/12

Incident:Double fatality in Carrabeanga 2000/06/12
Date	2000/06/12
Location	Carrabeanga
Severity	Fatality
Canyoneering-related	Yes
SAR involvement	No
Navigation problem	No
Swift water problem	No
Environmental problem	No
Communication problem	Yes
Planning problem	Yes
Skills problem	Yes
Body movement problem	No
Rigging problem	No
Rappel problem	No
Insufficient gear	No
Gear failure	No

Summary

Two men died in a canyoning accident in Carra Beanga Falls near Mt Thurat in the Kanangra Boyd National Park. The accident occurred on the sixth abseil of the long descent (of between 10 to 15 abseils in total - with the exact number of abseils depending on conditions and group experience) in the early hours of Saturday evening.

https://groups.google.com/g/australian-accident-register/c/o6t6alfy0PE?pli=1 https://ozultimate.com/canyoning/carra_beanga.htm

Accounts

Two men died in a canyoning accident in Carra Beanga Falls near Mt Thurat in the Kanangra Boyd National Park. The accident occurred on the sixth abseil of the long descent (of between 10 to 15 abseils in total - with the exact number of abseils depending on conditions and group experience) in the early hours of Saturday evening. The group of 9 from a university mountaineering club were seeking a ledge large enough to camp the night on and continued abseiling after darkness had fallen. The canyon is normally considered a "dry" canyon, however, due to route finding difficulties (made harder by darkness) the group chose an abseil anchor that placed them close to a waterfall that on that windy evening would have caused spray to blow across the abseil resulting in those descending the ropes getting wet. The first person to descend reached the bottom of that pitch on a single rope while the remainder of the party completed the previous abseil. The abseil was then re-rigged as a double rope (retrievable) abseil for the remainder of the group. The second person down experienced difficulties near the bottom, possibly from a falling rock, and for reasons that are not entirely clear was unable to descend to the bottom. The first person then made his way back up to the second person and appears to have attempted a rescue. The single rope, which was now no longer in use, was released by those at the top in accordance with a plan that had been discussed before the two leaders had descended. The group at the top had been unable to communicate with the two below due to the confusing echoes and acoustics of the surrounding cliffs. According to the post mortem report the two probably died of hypothermia but a perimortem head injury and/or mechanical asphyxiation could not be ruled out as the cause of death for the second person. The remainder of the party discovered their companions the following morning and cut them free of the ropes and continued out of the canyon arriving back at the Kanangra Car Park on Tuesday morning. The bodies were recovered on the Wednesday morning by Police using a helicopter.

Editor comments While an accurate picture of what happened will probably never be known it is possible to offer some suggestions for other parties undertaking any long remote canyon:

• A maximum party size of 6 offers speed, efficiency and safety in long and remote canyons.
• In parties containing a number of novices it is wise to have at least one leader who has done the canyon before.
• Allow plenty of time to reach an achievable goal and if your group is not going to make a chosen camp site decide early on a suitable alternative.
• Thermals, fleece clothing and waterproof shells should be standard on all winter trips in the Blue Mountains. These materials dry faster, weigh less when wet and offer superior thermal protection when compared to natural fibres such as cotton.
• All canyoners, particularly on long, remote or multi pitch canyons, should know how to prussik and should be equipped with at least 2 prussik loops.
• A person with good technical rope skills should be last down each abseil and should be equipped with enough gear to improvise a rescue if needed, preferably with a spare rope.

A detailed article on this accident, based on the witness statements of the survivors of the trip, appeared in the Good Weekend Magazine (part of the Sydney Morning Herald and AGE of 20/10/01). Visit http://www.accidentregister.info/ref.html to read the full article.