If I ever die in a cave, I hope that my friends fight to protect my memory like everyone who knew these deceased has, and will. I think we all agree, their memory, and their families, are the most important thing right now.
After every accident, and those accidents that turn into deaths, in any hobby in which I participate, I have friends and family reach out to see if it was me, and then to try to persuade me to stop that hobby. It really helps assuage their fears, to have some basic idea of what happened, so I can help them understand the steps I take to protect myself. In most cases, that "first level root cause analysis" is usually easy to see in a short time frame.
For example, a diver who didn't analyze his tanks. I explain to them how I analyze my tanks, and that assuages their fears. But, that doesn't mean I can't get back to them with that explanation in a week, a month, etc. My desire to know as soon as possible, I hope never leads me to intrude on the space that the recovery team needs to do their job, both underwater, and mentally and emotionally after the dive.
Some level of details available for reporters, also goes a long way to directing the conversation in the news. For instance, in the case of likely medical deaths, that fact can help us entirely avoid the discussion that it was the cave that was dangerous, because the death would have been likely on an open water dive or strenuous bicycle ride, as well.
After so long of most cases fitting neatly into a broken guideline, and based on the facts posted so far, then if EN is the Everest of diving, then I think this is the Titanic of accidents. Certainly, the diver's skill, dedication to survival, and loyalty to each other as a diving team, seems nearly unparalleled. And because of that, I think we have more potential to learn from this accident, than we have in a very long time...
But now that we know enough to put some of our fears at ease (your gas purchased where they got theirs, is probably fine; your JJ rebreather has no new known faults, etc), and knowing that to learn every lesson will require much more time (analysis of gear, video, official reports,etc) , we should all focus entirely on supporting the friends and family, and there is no excuse not to make that our only focus. And once all of the lessons are learned, we should continue to honor and respect their memory, and support their family, because it's a small sport and we all have to look out for each other. I hope that if something ever happens to me, you would do the same to my family and memory, and I'll always do my best to treat others, as I hope to be treated and remembered.
