Another accident in Tulum Cave Diving

[boulderjohn]

I don't have experience with the cave, but my impression from reading the account on cavediver was that the instructor looked around her general vicinity as well as deeper into the cave, and then came back and went closer to the exit. With all that looking, I would think she would have seen a line that was tied off near her initial location of lost contact. When the team encountered the deceased, was the deceased at the point of lost contact? Also, in my mind it took time for the instructor to go back and forth searching. Now the exiting team could have been mistaken about seeing her only 5 min before (which would have been what 15-25 min? after the first lost contact.), but the details that are known seem to be verified by multiple divers in several teams (again based on what is posted on cavediver).

The spot of the incident is not all that far from the entrance. It is a big, open area where you can head off to look around in a variety of directions. I once set out from there to find the Paso de Legarto line with only a vague and somewhat inaccurate description of where I would find it. I spent a lot of time looking around, nearly using up a 150 foot spool, before I found it. If I had set out in the correct direction, I would have found it quickly.

The instructor exited the cave looking for her, got more gas, and went back in before encountering the other group. I don't know how much gas he had left before he got more. It sounds to me as if she should have been out of gas by the time the other group encountered her if it was only 5 minutes.

 

[Bent Frederiksen]

The spot of the incident is not all that far from the entrance. It is a big, open area where you can head off to look around in a variety of directions. I once set out from there to find the Paso de Legarto line with only a vague and somewhat inaccurate description of where I would find it. I spent a lot of time looking around, nearly using up a 150 foot spool, before I found it. If I had set out in the correct direction, I would have found it quickly.

The instructor exited the cave looking for her, got more gas, and went back in before encountering the other group. I don't know how much gas he had left before he got more. It sounds to me as if she should have been out of gas by the time the other group encountered her if it was only 5 minutes.

According to the incident report, she was found about 55 min from the entrance.

 

[Bent Frederiksen]

The guide on this fatal trip was "46-year-old AM, originally from Rome, Italy". Anyone knows who he is.

 

[boulderjohn]

According to the incident report, she was found about 55 min from the entrance.

The spot that was described, where you jump to Pado de Legarto, is nowhere close to 55 minutes from the entrance.

EDIT: I just reread the accounts, and if it is correct that the "No Name Cenote" where she was found is also the known as Ho-Tul Cenote, then I know where it is. You enter the cave, go for a ways, take a sharp left turn and come to the end of the line. It is the end of the line because you are now in the cavern zone of Cenote Ho-Tul, and they don't want lines in the cavern zone. If you continue 120 feet at that point, the line picks up again, and you can do the Cuzan Nah loop. According to my log, when I did the Cuzan Nah loop, the entire dive took me 1:23. I don't know how long it would have taken from Ho-Tul to the entrance.

 

[boulderjohn]

A new post in the Cave Divers Forum thread is from a friend who said that the victim had been a certified cave diver for more than a year and had a lot of experience diving in that area.

 

[KevinNM]

The spot that ws described, where you jump to Pado de Legarto, is nowhere close to 55 minutes from the entrance.

Do you know where to find a useful map of the cave?

 

[Dan]

Condolences to her family & friends. May her soul RIP.

Who led the dive, the man with the camera or the deceased woman? If he was the guide & leading the dive, then she would have followed him & wouldn't be separated. Photographer tends to stop, focus on an object, snap pictures & move on. If she led the dive, then he may have gotten distracted with snapping pictures, didn't follow her, she was not aware of him lagging behind & ending up with a separation.

 

[boulderjohn]

Do you know where to find a useful map of the cave?

I am looking for one as we speak. The sketch in my log book won't help.

 

[boulderjohn]

 

[halocline]

It appears to be an unexplained fatality at this moment, just a reminder of how slim the margin for error is in cave diving. Very sad.