Brotherly love testedTwin steps out to break other's fall, making both tumble deeper into caveBy BOB FOWLER, fowler@knews.com
Knox News
December 12, 2006
LAKE CITY - When Justin Braden saw his twin brother, Dustin, falling down a pit in a cave, he put himself in harm's way.
Standing on a ledge below, Justin Braden stepped forward and tried to catch him.
The impact knocked the 21-year-old brothers 30 feet deeper into the treacherous cavern, touching off a dramatic rescue Sunday night.
Justin's split-second decision to try to catch his brother after a 45-foot fall may have saved Dustin's life.
"His brother stopped the brunt of his fall,'' said the twins' father, Lee Braden.
"It (Dustin's fall) could possibly have been fatal,'' Justin Braden added. "I would have done it for anybody, but especially for him.''
"The two are inseparable,'' Lee Braden of his sons. "They do everything together.''
Dustin Braden was hauled out of the cave Sunday night in a daring, high-angle operation involving nearly 40 rescue squad members and volunteer firefighters.
Flown by medical helicopter to University of Tennessee Medical Center, Dustin Braden stayed overnight for a checkup and was released Monday afternoon, bruised and scratched but otherwise unhurt.
The twins were part of a group of seven Campbell County men and boys, ages 14 to 26, who were out on an adventure that rapidly went awry Sunday.
The group had originally planned to explore a cave in Campbell County. During a breakfast stop in Jacksboro, though, a friend told them of the unnamed cavern high on a steep mountainside off Lake City Highway in Anderson County's Medford community.
The explorers tied together ropes with knots and loops in them to use in climbing back out and lowered it into the cave, whose entrance is described as a pit more than 75 feet deep.
Soon after they began caving about 1 p.m., the group became lost in the cavern's huge chambers.
They "had no safety equipment whatsoever,'' said Steven Newby, Anderson County rescue squad chief. "They had never been in a cave like this before.''
Once back at the bottom of the entrance shaft, Dustin Braden was the second to begin the climb out.
Close to the top, "he lost his grip and tried to readjust before falling,'' Justin Braden said.
"He tumbled a few times as he was coming down backwards. I tried to catch him, and his shoulders caught me in the face as I tried to wrap my arms around him,'' he said.
"The force knocked us both down about 30 feet into a hole.''
The only explorer who had exited called 911 around 6 p.m., prompting a rescue that concluded after 9 p.m.
Dustin Braden, who complained of pain in his left hip and leg, was immobilized in a Stokes basket and pulled from the cave by rescuers.
"I've talked to them about the dangers of this, but, of course, young people really don't listen to that,'' Lee Braden said.
The trip may have been his last caving expedition, Justin Braden said. "My wife told me I wasn't going back,'' he said.
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