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

[laurin]

I got hooked on the caves by those guided dives--I loved them. Illustrated here is just how much of a "trust me" dive they are. As a client, you're literally putting your life in the hands of the guide, assuming he will go where he's supposed to, has adequate gas in his doubles, and otherwise conform the the current best practices. If he doesn't, or something goes wrong, as an OW diver you don't have the resources to get yourself out.

Agreed. It's definitely not the "very safe diving" that it's often portrayed as (not surprisingly by the folks selling the tours)... As I see it, it's simply a lesser evil, most other alternatives being worse.

 

[Tool Belt]

Very sad, and with no speculation as to cause here is the sign we saw in Chac Mool in 2008.

 

[bleeb]

There was a brief comment earlier in this thread implying maybe the dive was late enough in the day that the back parts of the cavern may no longer have qualified as "cavern" by the time the dive finished. Would anyone familiar with the area and guiding practices there like to comment or expand on how this issue is typically handled? Are guided divers using or allowed lights? How do the guides determine their limit of penetration? Thanks.

 

[giantfan]

Very sad, and with no speculation as to cause here is the sign we saw in Chac Mool in 2008.

View attachment 122193

I was there in Feb and that sign was still there. This Cenote has both fresh and salt water in it. Where the two meet it gets very blury as the people in front mix the two....I was 4th in line when we went thru and viz was really poor. I wonder if that reduced viz and the fact that it was late in the day (low light) had anything to do with them taking the wrong path. Everytime I have been in a cenote everybody has flashlights.

Very sad indeed.

 

[mdax]

The time of day does not matter. If you cannot go straight up to the surface you are in a cavern or a cave. Specific training and equipment is required to dive in those environments. Chac Mool can be more complex than others have posted, there are side passages and no cave should be underestimated.
There is a good safety record in that area regarding the cavern tours, unfortunately some bend the rules to include caves, unfortunately this kind of accident is precisely why that's a bad idea. Must have been terrifying for all involved. Very sad.

 

[WSOPFAN]

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

Google Translate

 

[tddfleming]

From FB page of Cave Diving Safer Guidelines:
thee Divers Drown in Cenote Chac Mool.

On Thursday, April 19th, 2012 a cavern tour dive guide from the Akumal Dive Shop - Ismael García Manzanares took two customers – a male and female couple from the Country of Brazil into the upstream cavern zone at approximately 4:00 P.M. They swam beyond the cavern line area to the upstream gold line cave diving line to tour the first “pretty” room that exists 100 feet + beyond the safe cavern zone. Apparently, they became disoriented and swam further into the cave area and ran out of air, though the female had 500 psi remaining. The bodies were located and recovered by a cave diving Instructor of the Protec dive store facility located in Playa Del Carmen. The Akumal Dive Shop is a member of APSA.

Though there was a heart attack victim during a cavern tour dive in Cenote Taj Mahal a year ago, this accident represents the first fatalities to occur directly from human error in the Riviera Maya under the APSA cenote diving program since it began in the late 1990’s. APSA is the Riviera Maya’s Association of Dive and Water Sports Operators… Asociasion de Prestadores de Servicios Acuaticos A.C. Playa del Carmen, México.​

 

[Quero]

Language comment--as a speaker of Portuguese who has traveled extensively in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries, I can say that we can easily understand Spanish, although Spanish speakers have difficulty understanding Portuguese. So I don't believe that even if Ismael briefed the dive in Spanish these Brazilian customers would have misunderstood anything.

Now as to other news, the names of the Brazilian victims have been released:Jose Brugnaro and Renata Alves Quirino Costa. It appears that they were newlyweds.

Here is a news report in Spanish Por Esto! | Yucatán

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, SOLIDARIDAD, 20 de abril.- Negligencia criminal causa la muerte de un matrimonio de recién casados, buzos de Brasil y su guía de origen español, porque al encontrarse buceando se les terminó el oxígeno de sus tanques, luego de recorrer espacios no permitidos y no respetaron los señalamientos de seguridad marcados como zona peligrosa dentro del cenote Chac Mool, uno de los sitios de buceo más visitados por locales y turistas, y que incluso algunos lugareños atribuyen la tragedia a alguna maldición de los ancestros de la grandiosa civilización maya. Y desde luego a la negligencia de los responsables, al incurrir en graves omisiones.

Alrededor de las 16:00 horas del jueves, los buzos se internaron en el cenote ubicado en las cercanías de Puerto Aventuras, 20 kilómetros al sur de esta ciudad, en la carretera federal Playa del Carmen-Tulum, y los demás integrantes del grupo al percatarse de su desaparición, se abocaron a su búsqueda, al dar a las 21:00 horas y no hallarlos, dieron parte a las autoridades, y fueron localizados a la media noche, a 120 metros de la zona del borde del cenote, sacándolos sin vida a la 01:00 de la madrugada de este viernes.

Al lugar acudió personal del Instituto de Protección Civil, elementos de la Policía Municipal Preventiva (PMP), el Ministerio Público del Fuero Común (MPFC), agentes de la Policía Judicial del Estado (PJE) y personal de Servicio Periciales, quienes llevarían los cadáveres al Servicio Médico Forense (Semefo) para la necropsia de ley y la posterior entrega de los cuerpos a sus familiares.

Cabe señalar que siguen las investigaciones pertinentes por parte del Ministerio Público para encontrar a los presuntos responsables de que este hecho no se diera a conocer hasta después de varias horas, una vez que se encontraron los cuerpos en estado de descomposición y las autoridades correspondientes llegaran al sitio.

Cerca de la media noche de este viernes, se generó el reporte de tres personas desaparecidas y más tarde ahogadas, en el interior de un cenote conocido como "Chac Mool" ubicado cerca de la carretera federal Playa del Carmen-Tulum, en el kilómetro 268+600 de este tramo, siendo personal de este sitio el que realizara la llamada para pedir la presencia de PMP, Policía Judicial y Servicio Médico Forense, al informar del deceso de tres personas que aún estaban por ser rescatadas del interior de este ojo de agua.

De este modo, las autoridades se aproximaron al lugar de los hechos para confirmar el trágico suceso de que tres personas habían muerto ahogadas, cuando buceaban en el interior del cenote, aunque las irregularidades salieron a flote desde el momento en que se indagó que quienes respondían al nombre de Ismael García Manzanares, de 34 años de origen español, al parecer era el masterdive de la empresa ubicada en Akumal Dive Shop que guiaría a un par de recién casados José Brugnaro Neto, de 34 años de edad y Renata Alves Quirino Costa Brugnaro, de 36 años, ambos de origen brasileño en la ruta dentro del cenote, se habían sumergido al lugar desde las 16:00 horas sin que a las 17:00 horas, cuando se cierra el lugar no se supiera de su paradero.

Así, pasaron varias horas, hasta las 21:00 horas que se emprendiera una ardua búsqueda por cada una de las cavernas a altas hora de la noche, sin lograr ubicar a los tres buzos que permanecían perdidos. Fue hasta cerca de la media noche, que dos buzos especialistas en el lugar lograron dar -a 120 metros del borde del cenote- con el cuerpo de José Brugnaro Neto, quien se encontraba a 5 minutos del paradero de quien en vida fuera su recién esposa y el guía, quienes se encontraban a 3 minutos de distancia uno del otro.

Con ello, el personal del cenote dio parte a las autoridades hasta pasada la una de la madrugada, cuando se encontraron los cuerpos, siendo horas valiosas las que pasaron para el rescate de las personas. Hasta el momento, la causa de la muerte se indica como asfixia por sumersión donde las tres personas terminaron sin oxígeno en sus tanques, por lo que se sigue investigando qué fue lo que sucedió en el interior del cenote que tiene una profundidad aproximada de 14 metros ó 25 pies según los expertos, que no permitiera emerger a los buzos, dejándolos en un punto muerto del que no lograron salir con vida, para ser encontrados luego de aproximadamente 6 horas de haber fallecido.

A partir de ese momento, se daría paso a la llegada de las autoridades, siendo restringido el acceso, con tal de que la mala noticia no saliera del lugar, siendo elementos de PMP, Policía Judicial y agentes ministeriales y del Servicio Médico Forense para el levantamiento de los tres cuerpos, que serían trasladados a las oficinas del Servicio Médico Forense con tal de realizarles la necropsia de ley y de este modo se indique si hubo lesiones que propiciaran la muerte en el lugar de los hechos.
Y es que según las investigaciones de las autoridades del Ministerio Público y Policía Judicial, el presunto guía y el matrimonio, sobrepasaron las líneas de seguridad del cenote, marcados como zona peligrosa dentro de este exponiendo su vida, lo que los llevaría a un viaje sin retorno, por lo que se siguen las investigaciones con tal de hallar al responsable de la muerte de estos buzos, ya que al firmar el contrato con el que el guía se haría cargo de las situaciones que sucedieran en el tour el responsable sería él, mientras que la empresa "Dive Shop" y personal del cenote Chac Mool, siguen siendo investigados, luego de no realizar el reporte de las personas perdidas y en este caso, fallecidas en el momento en que sucedieron los hechos, para que se realizara la averiguación previa con número 01/271/4/2012 en este caso. Así, el lugar estará sujeto a investigación, a pesar de ello sus puertas seguirán abiertas.

Por otro lado, personas que conocen la historia de los cenotes de esta región, indicaron que los cenotes se cierran a las 17:00 horas, según la creencia de orígenes mayas, ya que después de esa hora, de forma misteriosa suceden fenómenos inexplicables en estos lugares, por lo que se presume no consiguieron salir del cenote cuando se perdieron de su ruta y no lograron sobrevivir a ello, indicando que la causa de estos sucesos era la presencia de aluxes.

 

[DandyDon]

Now as to other news, the names of the Brazilian victims have been released:Jose Brugnaro and Renata Alves Quirino Costa. It appears that they were newlyweds.

Here is a news report in Spanish Por Esto! | Yucatán

Here is google's translation...

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, SOLIDARITY, April 20. - Criminal negligence causes the death of a couple of newlyweds, divers of Brazil and guidance of Spanish origin, because they ended up diving meet oxygen tanks, after touring areas not allowed and did not respect the safety signs danger zone marked in the cenote Chac Mool, one of the dive sites visited by locals and tourists, and even some locals attribute the tragedy to a curse of the ancestors of the great civilization Maya. And of course to the negligence of those responsible, to incur serious omissions.

Around 16:00 pm on Thursday, divers went into the cenote located near Puerto Aventuras, 20 kilometers south of this city, on the federal highway Tulum Playa del Carmen and the other members of the group aware of his disappearance, were dedicated to your search, by giving at 21:00 hours and not find them, gave to the authorities, and were found at midnight, 120 meters from the edge of the cenote, taking them without life at 01:00 am on Friday.

Staff went to the site of the Institute of Civil Protection, elements of the Preventive Municipal Police (PMP), the Public Ministry of Common Law (MPFC), agents of the State Judicial Police (PJE) and Expert Service personnel who would carry the bodies Forensic Medical Service (Semefo) for the autopsy and the subsequent return of the bodies to their families.

Note that remain relevant research by the Public Ministry to find the suspects that this was not made known until several hours after the bodies were found in a decomposed state and relevant authorities from reaching the site.

Near midnight on Friday, the report was generated three people missing and later drowned inside a cenote known as "Chac Mool" located near the federal highway Tulum Playa del Carmen, at kilometer 268 +600 of this section, with the site personnel to carry out the call to request the presence of PMP, Judicial Police and Medical Examiner, reporting the death of three people still being rescued inside this waterhole .

Thus, the authorities approached the scene to confirm the tragic event that three people had drowned when dove inside the cenote, although irregularities surfaced from the time that those who responded were investigated the name of Ismael García Manzanares, 34, of Spanish origin, was apparently masterdive company located in Akumal Dive Shop that would lead to a pair of newlyweds Brugnaro Jose Neto, 34 years old and Renata Alves Costa Brugnaro Quirino , 36, both from Brazil on the way into the cenote, had sunk to the place from 16:00 hours without at 17:00 hours, when you close the place does not know of his whereabouts.

Thus, spent several hours until 21:00 hours to undertake an arduous search for each of the caves at high hour of the night, unable to locate the three divers who remained missing. It was not until near midnight, two specialists divers managed to take-place 120 meters from the edge of the cenote, with the body of Joseph Brugnaro Neto, who was 5 minutes from the fate of who in life was his new wife and the guide, who were 3 minutes away from each other.

Thus, the cenote staff gave to the authorities until after one o'clock, when the bodies were found, with the valuable hours they spent to rescue people. So far, the cause of death was listed as drowning where three people ended up without oxygen in their tanks, so it is still investigating what had happened inside the cenote that has a depth of 14 meters or 25 feet according to experts, not to allow the divers emerge, leaving them in a deadlock which failed to survive, to be found after approximately 6 hours of the deceased.

From that point, would lead to the arrival of the authorities, with restricted access, provided that the bad news does not leave the place, being elements of PMP, Judicial Police and ministerial officers and forensic services for the lifting of the three bodies, which would be taken to the Forensic Medical Service offices such field-work with the autopsy and thus indicating whether injuries that would encourage death in the scene.
And according to research by the authorities of public prosecutors and judicial police, the alleged marriage guidance and surpassed the cenote security lines, marked as dangerous in this area regarding his life, what would a trip without return, so continue with such research to find the person responsible for the death of these divers, since signing the contract that the guide would take care of situations that happen on tour he would be responsible, while that the company "Dive Shop" and Chac Mool cenote staff, continue to be investigated, then do not report the lost and in this case, deceased at the time the events occurred, in order to conduct the preliminary 01/271/4/2012 numbered in this case. Thus, the site will be subject to investigation, despite that the doors remain open.

On the other hand, people who know the history of the cenotes in this region, indicated that the cenotes close at 17:00, as the belief Mayan origins, and that after that time so mysterious unexplained phenomena happen these places, so presumably did not get out of the sinkhole when it lost its way and did not survive this, indicating that the cause of these events was the presence of aluxes.

 

[wedivebc]

The first time I did a cave dive at Chac Mool it took some time to find the gold line due to the halocline and the confusing number of passages that seem to lead away from the cenote. There are actually 3 cenotes in the cavern zone and tours usually circumnavigate the three. Once you get off the cavern line the cave floor follows the salt water interface and the halocline reduces visibility to a few feet, especially if you aren't the lead diver.
I would suspect this accident has nothing to do with bad air and more to do with divers reaching beyond their training and experience and without at least two of the divers knowing about the low vis section of the cave probably caused some disorientation.
I am very sorry for the loved ones left behind.