Date of Event: 5/11/2024
Canyon Involved: Ramnuta
Region: South-West Romania
Country: Romania
Submitted by: Alin Popa
Source: Canyoning course (Level 2, rigging). I was present as instructor.
Injury: Psychological, Foot entrapment
Cause: Fall or slip, Slippery Conditions
Description of Event: The incident happened on the last abseil. It was a simple and easy abseil (about 10 meters, with two steps), but we planned a guided abseil as part of the training. The section above was way more difficult than this one. The first person to descend was a trainee (advanced level) who was supposed to mount the guided line. The terrain was very slippery due to low water level. Normally the canyon is V3A3III or A4, maybe now it was A2. During the abseil, his foot slipped and got caught in a crack. He was 1m away from the base of the waterfall. We could not lower him as his foot would remain above. Direct rescue was needed. One person descended to see what was happening and tried to stay above the victim to redirect the water flow. Victim was not able to release the boot. I descended also and instructed the second person to go below the victim. I made a counterweight system (using my own weight) while staying above the victim to redirect the flow and lifted the victim a bit. Second person managed to cut the straps from the boot and release the foot. Once the foot was released, the victim was able to descend by himself the remaining distance (1m).
Analysis: The terrain was slippery. The foot got stuck so bad that even after removing the boot, it was difficult to extract the boot. All team members had pulleys, ascenders and all equipment needed for rescue and were knowledgeble. We went from simple (hoping that the victim would be able to self rescue) to more complex rescue (counterweight). There was no injury, except some emotional stress while the victim was trying to self rescue. Once team members joined, the victim was calm and cooperating.