Three divers lose their lives at Chac Mool in Riviera Maya. 2 Brazillian, 1 Spaniard

[lamont]

Any ideas what happened for him to be in that condition?

barotrauma of some sort.

i'd guess something like he sank as he drowned and the mask squeeze blew blood vessels in his eyes and sinuses.

 

[Tigerman]

I was thinking that at first as well lamont, but from what Ive seen in Chak Mool its not very deep and the distance from the ceiling to the floor isnt all that high?
Granted it is in the shallows you have the largest relative difference in pressure, it just seems a bit much for such an event?
Then again, water do tend to make it look "worse than it is" in lack of a better way of putting it (It couldnt be much worse for the diver in question ofc).

 

[giantfan]

Forgive me if this has been discussed or is mindless conjucture, but the posiability of the newlywed male swimming/finning first and fast, too far into the system, would leave the guide in a very tough predictiment in the attempt to save the lives of all...

It is my understanding that with all Cenote dives the guide leads and everybody else follows in a single line. Not saying that this was or is what they were doing but every group that I have witnessed in the cenotes has been configured this way.

 

[WSOPFAN]

Well it should come as no surprise that the guide's family is not only outraged the newspapers published pictures of the deceased before even contacting the family, but that the stories imply in any way that it may be his fault. The family intends on investigating the accident to clear his name and the comments suggest that in no way would he be at fault and he gave his life to try and save his customers.

Google Translate

 

[Bison Ravi]

From the same source, it seems all the guide's equipment has been stolen...

 

[Quero]

Well, Bison Ravi, I think it's more likely it has been impounded by authorities in order to check air, equipment function, etc.

 

[WSOPFAN]

This article is an interview with one of the rescue divers in which he seems convinced it is nothing more than tragic fatal mistakes.

Google Translate

What would this dive guide have been taught to do if a diver enters an unmarked area and pursuing that diver might cost more lives? I think that is a possibility and I am not sure why that would not occur to this rescue diver. In all these years if all the guides were disciplined enough to never violate the rules then it should be a possibility he did not proceed into that area voluntarily.

 

[Quero]

This states the guide rope was cut.......maybe accidentally?
Google Translate

This article is an interview with one of the rescue divers in which he seems convinced it is nothing more than tragic fatal mistakes.
Google Translate

Well, I found some comments written by the same recovery diver quoted in the interview, Gonzalo Garcia Larrañaga, in response to a report (once again, I'm not 100% fluent in Spanish, so if I've mistranslated something, do suggest corrections). It's interesting that in the comments below he seems much more adamant about gross negligence than in the interview above.

hay varias hipotesis y hay que esperar pero nando y yo no vimos ninguna linea rota, y se pueden decir muchas especulaciones pero de que se rompieron raglas es un hecho , y como lo comentaba anteriormente, es un caso sumamente aislado y el buceo en la riviera maya es muuuy seguro siguiendo los estándares
...
un caso terrible de negligencia y ruptura de reglas
...
los encontré a 170m de la linea de caverna despues de 2 camaras grandes y fuera de linea rompio 4 reglas del buceo de cuevas .....si con una estas en riesgo, el asunto que la pareja que iba con el ellos confieron en su guia ya que no saben nada de incluso cavernas
no se entonces como se le puede llamar a eso​

Roughly translated, it says:
There are various theories and we just have to wait, but Nando [I believe he's referring to Fernando del Valle Prieto as the other recovery diver] and I didn't see any broken line, and we can speculate at length, but that rules were broken is a fact, and as was mentioned earlier, this is an extremely rare occurrence since diving in the Riviera Maya is very safe when standards are followed.
...
[This is] a terrible case of negligence and breaking of rules
...
I found them 170 meters back from the cavern line, past two large rooms, and away from the line. Four cave diving rules were broken...by breaking just one rule you are at risk. The issue is that the couple trusted their guide, particularly since they knew nothing about cave diving. I don't know--then what would you call that?

 

[WSOPFAN]

Yea I translated his comments and he does say there was no broken line so that story was false. It is obvious they left the safety of marked areas and ventured into others but there is no way for him to prove the guide lead them there or that the guide was there intentionally. Maybe he was observing the 2 explore and had his eyes on one and when he turned the other was gone, then he went to retrieve them and they never found the way out.

 

[DandyDon]

Other that possibly disallowing the rumor that a line was cut, I don't see how anyway they can ever determine why they went in the prohibited area. I can imagine possible reasons, but how could anyone know?

Some reports mention others in their group?