Here is an interesting article that goes more in depth about the mine where Erin's remains were found. This Search and Rescue team are amazing!
The mine descended as a deep vertical shaft that sloped slowly to one side, making it impossible to simply lower a camera in from the top. Instead, the team lowered one of its searchers on a rope and, as he dangled partway down the shaft, he lowered a camera and a powerful light to the bottom.
Ultimately, two cameras and three rescuers went into the mine. Each rescuer wore a mask to protect themselves from "bad air" at the bottom of the mine, but the cave team couldn't be sure the mask would be enough.
"It was scary, because the air was questionable," Lawrence said. "But because of the shape of the bottom, we couldn't put a camera all the way down. A person had to go down, and ultimately had to get close enough to see Erin to make the call.
The third person down was only (a few feet) from Erin and could make a positive identification that it was a body."
http://www.airforcetimes.com/articl...ave-team-Erin-Corwin-found-unmapped-gold-mine