In recent years, similar incidents have occurred frequently, and some cave explorers have even paid the price of their lives. Why do cave explorations often encounter dangerous situations? How should responsibility be divided in case of danger? The reporter launched an investigation into this matter. Blind exploration and perilous cave diving rescue can be called a 'dance on the edge of the knife'. ”Wang Hao, an expert from the Standardization Committee of the China Association for Scientific Exploration, still had lingering fears when he recalled the scientific expedition accident in Baise, Guangxi in February this year. At that time, two biodiversity researchers went missing underwater in extremely low visibility, and it took 73 hours of life and death search and rescue to escape. This thrilling rescue was captured by Wang Hao with his camera: at 4:30 am on February 6th, 9.5 hours after going missing, search and rescue personnel discovered a researcher in the fourth chamber, about 300 meters away from the starting point. In order to avoid overheating, he removed his diving equipment and stuck it in a crevice, with the person sitting on top. The beam of the searchlight traced a faint path through the murky water, and the rescue personnel of the water service rescue team slowly descended along the rope. The underwater cave is intricate and mysterious, with stalactites hanging like sharp blades. Rescue workers searched the underground maze for nearly 3 days, but another missing researcher is still missing. The 72 hour golden rescue window is about to close. As rescue personnel slowly rose from an air chamber, a hand suddenly appeared in the darkness. Without moving there, I thought he had died, "the rescue personnel recalled." Suddenly, I saw him move twice. "After not eating for several days, the researchers' physical strength was approaching its limit. On the way back, the rescue team lifted the researcher's arm and lifted him towards the light bit by bit in the almost zero visibility water. The cave environment is complex and requires professional equipment and skill support. ”Wang Hao emphasized that his team needs to carry a certain amount of professional ropes, rock nail hanging pieces, rescue pulley systems, drones, emergency medical kits and other equipment every time they go down the cave. "Some people enter dangerous and complex caves without proper preparation, making it difficult to ensure safety. The Tiktok Cave Exploration blogger "Exploring China Maomao" deeply shares this feeling. As the holder of the domestic record for the depth of cave exploration (920 meters for a single cave), he frankly stated that without professional accompaniment, blind exploration by beginners can be extremely dangerous. The interior of the cave is often slippery, with cracks, deep holes, and vertical shafts... a slight carelessness can lead to falling into the abyss. Not long ago, a fan sent me a private message saying that their family had fallen into a cave and hoped that we could help find them. When the body was found, it already had a foul odor, and there were many wounds on the clothes and skin due to slipping off. ”Exploring China Mao Mao "recalled that after finding the body, they called the fire rescue hotline to have professionals transport the body because they were unable to handle it themselves. Why are there still people flocking to cave exploration despite the frequent dangers caused by the lack of mandatory regulations prohibiting entry? Caves are divided into flat caves, water caves, and vertical shafts. According to convention, if it is a flat hole, everyone can enter unless there is a local prohibition or a warning sign prohibiting entry at the entrance. The vertical shaft has a drop, and ordinary people cannot directly go down. Explorers need to have rope skills and professional exploration equipment. Water holes are more complex and require waterproof or insulated clothing, inflatable boats, and other equipment. ”Wang Hao said, but currently there is no mandatory legal requirement that cave exploration requires reporting or possessing relevant skills to enter. Yin Yu, senior partner of Guanghe Law Firm, pointed out that although the risks are extremely high, China has not yet issued specialized regulations for cave exploration. Relevant regulations are scattered in laws and regulations such as nature reserve regulations, resulting in blurred legal application boundaries, overlapping departmental responsibilities, and conflicts of regulations. In addition, the application conditions, approval process, and time limit standards are not unified, and there are significant differences in implementation across regions. Some regions have cumbersome and inefficient procedures, and some regions have relaxed and superficial audits. At the same time, the punishment for violations is insufficient, such as imposing only minor fines on unauthorized explorers, which makes it difficult to form an effective legal deterrent and leads to repeated violations. The safety management principles established by the Safety Production Law lack specific implementation standards in the field of cave exploration, and there are specific details such as equipment technical specifications, personnel qualification requirements, and risk assessment processes that are missing. This has led to the misconduct of explorers, lack of evidence for regulatory enforcement, and difficulty in implementing safety accident prevention mechanisms in this field. ”Yin Yu analyzed. In her opinion, the Civil Code lacks detailed provisions on the obligation of safety protection in cave exploration scenarios, and the responsibilities of organizers for safety protection, the scope of risk borne by participants, the regulatory responsibilities of managers, and the definition of government public service functions are vague. The phenomenon of responsibility shifting after accidents is common, and the mechanism for protecting the rights and interests of victims is not running smoothly. What legal regulations may organizers and participants violate if they venture into the cave without permission? Yin Yu introduced that most natural caves have been included in protected areas such as nature reserves due to their high ecological value. The regulations of nature reserves explicitly prohibit unauthorized entry into the core area, and scientific research activities must apply for approval from the management agency in advance (national core areas must be approved by provincial departments). Violators will face orders for rectification and fines ranging from 100 to 5000 yuan. If it is a 'wild cave' that has not been included in a legally protected area, has no clear management entity, and has not established a formal development or opening mechanism, it often lacks infrastructure, rescue guarantees, and complex environmental conditions, posing a highly uncertain safety risk to explorers. Although there is no unified approval system for exploration activities in 'wild caves' under current laws, it does not mean that such behavior is in a' legal vacuum zone '. The organizers and participants should bear corresponding civil, administrative, and even criminal legal responsibilities due to their degree of fault. ”Yin Yu said. She reminded that if natural resources are damaged during the exploration process, they should bear tort liability according to law. If the damage result is difficult to restore to its original state, compensation for restoration costs, loss of ecological service functions, and assessment and monitoring costs should be made in accordance with the relevant provisions of the ecological environment damage compensation system. If the exploration behavior causes serious damage to natural resources and constitutes a crime listed in the Criminal Law, criminal responsibility should be pursued in accordance with the law. For example, crimes such as intentional destruction of property, illegal logging, destruction of precious trees, and illegal mining. When some cultural and tourism departments invite us to explore caves, they may require us to sign a disclaimer agreement. ”Explored China Maomao "revealed. Yin Yu interpreted that according to the provisions of the Civil Code, as long as the agreement on assuming risks is a true expression of intention by both parties and the content does not violate mandatory provisions of laws and administrative regulations, it should generally be recognized as valid and legally binding. However, the agreement that explorers bear their own risks does not mean that organizers or managers can be completely exempt from liability. According to the general principle of tort liability, assuming risks on one's own can have a certain mitigating effect on liability. However, if the organization or management party has gross negligence or intent, fails to fulfill basic security obligations, fails to reasonably inform known major dangers, or has serious misconduct in organization or command, they still need to bear corresponding tort liability in accordance with the law. The assumption of risks clause cannot be used as a basis for completely exempting liability. On the contrary, if the organizers, management units, or cultural and tourism departments have reasonably fulfilled their obligations of risk warning and safety protection, and explorers participate in activities based on full knowledge and voluntary participation, and accidents are caused by their own behavior or unforeseeable objective factors during the exploration process, the principle of 'voluntary risk' can be applied to reduce or even exempt the civil liability of the organizers. ”Yin Yu said. She pointed out that for fellow explorers, if they have not committed any infringing or non aggravating acts themselves, they should not be held responsible for accidents that occur to others in principle. But if there is evidence to prove that the same person was at fault in the accident, or played a role in exacerbating the danger during the accident, then corresponding responsibilities should be shared according to their respective degrees of fault. In cave exploration activities, special attention should be paid to the rescue obligations that may arise between joint explorers. In principle, the law does not require 'bystanders' or' passers-by 'to assume the obligation of rescue, but in specific circumstances, such as when both parties voluntarily participate in the same high-risk activity based on mutual agreement (such as cave exploration, swimming, mountaineering, etc.), it may be deemed as forming a specific rescue obligation based on a trust relationship. In this situation, explorers may have a certain degree of cooperation and mutual assistance expectations, such as jointly deciding to enter the cave, having some kind of tacit understanding or even agreement to 'take care of each other to complete activities'. If one party encounters danger and the other party fails to fulfill their reasonable rescue obligations, resulting in the expansion of damage, they may still bear certain civil compensation liability in accordance with the law. ”Yin Yu said. In her opinion, if the cave exploration activity is organized by the local cultural and tourism department in the name of official duties or as the organizer, it has a higher obligation to ensure public safety. Once an accident occurs, in addition to potentially bearing civil tort liability, it may also trigger administrative liability. If the circumstances meet the conditions, the victim can also claim state compensation liability in accordance with the National Compensation Law. In such situations, even if there is a self assumed risk agreement, it cannot completely exempt the legal responsibility that the organizing party should bear. The self assumed risk clause is valid within a legal and reasonable scope, but it cannot become a 'gold medal' for the organization or management to evade legal responsibility. The final division of responsibility needs to be comprehensively judged based on the fault, performance, and specific causes of the accident of all parties involved. ”Yin Yu said. (outlook new era)