Rescue
British Cave Rescue Council
The representative and coordinating body, formed in 1967, for the volunteer underground rescue teams of the British Isles; teams are called out through the police, and the Council organised the British cave diving team sent to Thailand in 2018.
The British Cave Rescue Council describes itself as the representative body for voluntary underground rescue in the British Isles, formed in 1967 to represent and support its members, share information between them and give them a common voice; it coordinates rather than governs, and each member organisation remains independent [1][2]. It is a registered charity (number 1137252) [2]. Its site states that responsibility for inland rescue rests generally with the police, who call on the volunteer organisations; it lists sixteen member organisations with over 1,000 volunteer rescuers, some of whom have diving ability [2]. In an emergency in the UK, the BCRC tells people to dial 999, ask for the police and then ask for cave rescue [1].
In its December 2018 press release on honours for the Tham Luang rescue, the BCRC said members of a BCRC cave diving rescue team went to northern Thailand in June 2018, that two of them found the missing boys and their coach about 2,300 metres from the entrance, and that the Council forms a special operational unit on the rare occasions a specialist team has to be sent abroad [3]. The same release notes that cave rescue is supported by national caving bodies including the Cave Diving Group [3]. The BCRC publishes annual incident reports from 2004 onwards [4].
Further reading
Emergency resources and their limits
Environmental hazards in underwater caves
BCRC Incident Reports ↗
Deep anaesthesia: The Thailand cave rescue and its implications for management of the unconscious diver underwater ↗
Every fact on this page, with its source (6)
| Fact | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|
| The BCRC was formed in 1967. | Verified | [1] [2] |
| The BCRC lists sixteen volunteer underground rescue organisations as members, with over 1,000 volunteer rescuers.The 2018 press release (s3) refers to fifteen member teams; the count has changed over time. | Verified | [2] |
| For an emergency in the UK, the BCRC says to dial 999, ask for the police and then ask for cave rescue.Jurisdiction: United Kingdom. Source: caverescue.org.uk home page, checked 2026-10-14. | Verified | [1] |
| The BCRC states that responsibility for inland rescue rests generally with the police, who call on volunteer underground rescue organisations. | Verified | [2] |
| A BCRC cave diving rescue team went to Thailand in June 2018 and two of its members found the missing group about 2,300 metres from the cave entrance. | Verified | [3] |
| The BCRC publishes annual incident reports, listed from 2004 to 2025. | Verified | [4] |
Verified: stated by an official or primary source we opened. Reported: from a secondary source only. Sources conflict: the note gives both versions. May be out of date: the newest source we found is old.
Written in our own words from the sources above. Report a correction