International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery

IUCRR describes itself as an all-volunteer public service and educational organisation, registered as a not-for-profit in Florida and established in 1999, that supports public safety agencies with rescue and recovery of divers in underwater overhead environments such as caves, caverns and mine shafts ^[1]. Its stated mission has two parts: rescue and recovery support within a law enforcement agency's Incident Command System, and accident analysis to educate the cave diving community ^[1]. Members are experienced cave divers vetted by Regional Coordinators and must complete its Rescue/Recovery Surface Operations Management (RRSOM) training before joining the call-out list; the site cites a presence in 18 or more countries ^[1]. Its emergency page asks people reporting a diver overdue or missing in a cave, cavern or mine to email the organisation and contact the relevant Regional Coordinator ^[2].

A 2017 paper in Forensic Science International, co-written with an IUCRR member, notes that on average three divers die inside flooded caves in the USA each year, describes the standard recovery procedures IUCRR has developed since 1999, and strongly recommends that local dive teams do not attempt to recover bodies from within flooded caves ^[3].