Marianna man rescues cave diver who helped rescue soccer team in Thailand

Edd Sorenson, the owner operator of Cave Adventurers in Marianna was called upon to help rescue Josh Bratchley, a U.K. cave diver who went missing in a Tennessee cave and had been stuck there for 27 hours.

Sorenson said, “I went in looking for a body. I had very little expectations or hope that he was still alive. But you always keep that little bit of hope alive that this guy could be surviving up here.”

Sorenson, fully geared up, went into the cave alone, where he says its smallest opening was less than a foot wide and visibility was slim to none saying, “Now I’m basically exploring a cave that I’ve never been in with minimal visibility and hoping that I get to this air pocket that I had seen on the map.”

He added, “As I came up into the air pocket, there was a guy sitting 15 feet away staring at me. And he just said, 'Thank you for coming.’”

“I’m not sure who was more surprised, him or me," Sorenson said, "But he was not only alive, but he was very calm. He had his feet crossed and he was leaning back on his tanks, like he was watching a football game.”

He says Bratchley's calm demeanor as well as his dry cave diving experience are what helped save his life.

He said, “He knew to go back to that air pocket, he knew that there was a good amount of air as they had been there the day before. That was his environment, he was at home.”

With a little bit of hope, and a little bit of help, Sorenson and Bratchley found the light at the end of the cave as they surfaced and took in the fresh air.

Bratchley is said to be in good health and Sorenson believes they are still diving and exploring the caves.