FRIENDS of a caver who is seriously ill in hospital after being rescued from a disused mine shaft say they are "hoping and praying" for his recovery.
Peter Ireson, 37, from Livingston, was overcome by gas shortly after abseiling into the mine shaft at the Wisp in Newcraighall on Thursday evening.
A fellow caver tried to haul him out after realising he was in distress, but was not able to rescu
e him and raised the alarm.
A specialist fire and rescue team sped to the scene, where they discovered Mr Ireson unconscious just ten feet from the entrance to the mine, still attached to his safety rope.
They carried out what they described as an "awkward" rescue, before rushing Mr Ireson to hospital by ambulance.
Mr Ireson's father John was understood to be at his bedside in the intensive care ward of the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary yesterday.
A member of the Grampian Speleological Group, Mr Ireson had ten years' experience of caving. The group's treasurer, Ivan Young, told the Evening News: "You just have to hope and pray that he's going to recover from this.
"I believe he went down a short distance, then went down a short distance more – he wasn't going fast, in other words, and in the process of that he went from essentially clear air into a very high concentration of gas, which was probably carbon dioxide, but that hasn't been confirmed. It's the most likely explanation because carbon dioxide is heavy.
"That had a very rapid effect that stopped him being able to climb up.
"There was another member with him, but the other member was a far newer member, who wouldn't have had the experience to pull him out."
Mr Ireson was carrying a gas meter, which raises an alarm when oxygen levels fall dangerously low, but it is thought he was overcome too quickly to react.
Mr Young said coal mines could pose a risk to cavers because of the potential for toxic gases, but were also an attraction for those with a sense of adventure.
He said: "It's fair to say that generally, as a club, we don't go down old coal mines, but there aren't many caves in the Edinburgh area, so we look at mines.
"In a case like that where you know it's going to be a coal mine, if you're going to go in there at all you have a gas meter – there's a whole range of gas meters – but I believe he was overcome very quickly."
The club's records keeper, Alan Jeffreys, praised the rescue effort: "The emergency services responded very quickly. But by the time they arrived he had been hanging in the stuff for quite some time so he got a good dose of whatever it was.
"We are very worried because he is a friend of ours and he is well known within the club."
Mr Ireson, who works as an engineer, is single and has no children.
The full article contains 502 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
