By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. "If he's in there, I don't know where he'd be," he said later. In addition, he incurred a hefty tax debt (est. Marson Kay, 29, of Gainesville apparently became disoriented during a dive in Weeki Wachee's main spring and got wedged in an underwater cavern, authorities said. McDaniel, who had been diving regularly at the spring while living in his parents' nearby beach house, had last been seen by two of those employees on the evening of August 18, on a dive entering a cave 58 feet (18m) below the water's surface. However, you might think that when 2 workers left for coffee without waiting for Ben, he couldRead more . DandyDon; May 18, 2022; 5 6 7. No one is known to have seen him since. The authorities said it was too dangerous to retrieve their bodies, but four . The mapped portion of the cave ends at a narrow restriction about 150 feet deep and 1,500 feet of mostly horizontal penetration, about the length of . Training status, safety rules violated, relevancy of the violations, and root causes leading to death were determined. [2], Ben's truck was still in the parking lot the next morning, but with many summer visitors coming to enjoy the site's many water-based recreational opportunities and picnic grounds in addition to diving, the employees said they were too busy to notice. The juveniles believed the discussion was in regards to going back down into the cave and whether or not they had enough air in their tanks to complete their dive, the sheriffs office added. They were eventually able to partially free him using a rope-pulley system. Only one returns. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. "The last place I searched was pristine, without a mark that a diver had been there. An experienced California diver who was helping with the exploration of the narrow underwater passageways that radiate from a well-known swimming hole in eastern New . [10] At some points, the passage narrows to 10 inches (25cm), requiring divers to remove their tanks, push them forward through the passage, and then twist their bodies to follow. It's technical diving at its most technical. Unquenchable heroism and complex human relationships amid the perils of extreme sport. you'd be dead a long time ago," diver Ben Reymenants, who was part of the rescue mission, says. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much [2] They agreed to put up $54,000 to guarantee the cost of replacing a remotely operated underwater vehicle brought to the spring by the Fort Lauderdale police, in case it was lost in the cave. The authorities said it was too dangerous to retrieve their bodies, but four . New posts Search forums. The cave diving death of Dave Shaw is a multilayered tragedy. Many divers are adamant that Ben isnt inside the cave. While divers couldnt find Ben, they did find two decompression tanks which are left by divers as they ascend to avoid decompression sickness. The McDaniels began considering the possibility that he had died as a result of foul play, and that his diving disappearance was staged to cover up a crime. It would be impossible to go through that restriction without making a mark on the floor or ceiling. Results: Ben had endured a failed marriage and a bankrupted construction company that left him despondent. Teacher with prosthetic Z-cup breast FINALLY put on leave. 2011 Jul-Aug;38(4):257-60. 7. They hoped to show it to the McDaniel family in the hopes of giving them a better understanding of the risks associated with cave diving, and "closure", as Heinerth put it. [4] (Due to technical issues, it was unable to go any farther than the human divers had ventured. "It's a really tight spot, but we've been able to get around him. News media in the Panhandle and Memphis followed the search closely. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. There were some rather distasteful discussions as well, things that nobody really wanted to do," Sgt Cannon said. As the sun faded on the 19th of August, 2010, Ben walked down the narrow dock and slipped in the clear, warm, water of Vortex Spring. appreciated. 2013 Mar-Apr;20(2):101-6. doi: 10.1111/jtm.12011. The water was rising up the cave wall, and Rob returned through the rapidly filling S-bend, so he wouldn't get trapped without diving gear. A few years ago there was a famous cave diving death, the disappearance of Ben McDaniel in Vortex Springs. Scuba diving is a safe sport. [2][1] Later, it was revealed that Paul's cause of death was "anoxic encephalopathy due to combined drug (opiate/benzodiazepine) toxicity", [6] a drug overdose, not a stroke. When authorities arrived, the diver was deceased, according to the sheriffs office. I did a search for it but didn't find anything posted..the fact of not knowing if he ever came out of the cave or not is what I find most compelling. Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. The father-of-one's tragic mistake was thinking he could squeeze into the same spaces as a six-foot man than he did when he was a lot younger and smaller. A 10-year estimate of the incidence of decompression illness in a discrete group of recreational cave divers in Australia. Two cave divers . He made three separate dives that day,[1] going (by his account) 1,700 feet (520m) into the cave, 200 feet (61m) further than those sections Ben had mapped, using a diver propulsion vehicle and smaller tanks to increase his range. Her identity Would love your thoughts, please comment. In addition to the accident and murder theories, the documentary also considers the possibility that Ben staged the disappearance to escape a troubled recent past that included a divorce and financial setbacks. In the middle of the day, he did one dive. A Warner Bros. I also break down the different theories that are circulating around Ben's disappearance.The top 4 theories are:1. 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A memorial plaque to John stands near the entrance to Nutty Putty Cave. And a lot of times you become catatonic and just sit . "There is just as much reason to look above the water for Ben's body as there was to look below it in the cave," she told the Commercial Appeal. Dive-related fatalities among tourist and local divers in the northern Croatian littoral (1980-2010). By Johnny Diaz. Was it an accident? [1], At the Santa Rosa Beach house officers found his dog, hungry from having been unfed for two days. His family said the diver wasn't looking for Ben McDaniel, but cave divers are skeptical.The family steadily increased a reward to $30,000, which incensed the cave diving community because they thought it was recklessly encouraging inexperienced divers to . )[11] His parents later defended him from those criticisms by seeing them as positive traits. In Ron Howard's "Thirteen Lives," out Friday on Prime Video, Viggo Mortensen plays Rick Stanton, a British cave diver who recounts his rescue of a Thai boys soccer team from a monsoon-flooded cave. John left behind his wife Emily and their baby daughter Lizzie. He inched his way into the Birth Canal head first, wiggling forward using his hips, stomachs and fingers. News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worlds leading global business publication June 27, 2022 2:41pm. Home. By that point John had been hanging upside down for more than eight hours. "He just got himself in a pinch and couldn't find his way back out", said one of the divers who recovered the body. Edd Sorenson (born October 17, 1959) is a technical cave diver known for numerous rescues of lost or trapped divers in the underwater caves of Florida particularly in Vortex Springs and Blue Springs Recreational Park. A decades-old mystery surrounding the death of a Florida cave diver has been solved by a simple experiment by three scientists in a lab at Florida State. Ben was last seen by two Vortex Spring (VS) employees at the gate blocking untrained and non-certified divers from entering the most dangerous parts of the cave. "Not only did it endanger the lives of divers who would risk going farther than they should," said Sorenson, who was by then even more firmly convinced that their son had not died in the cave, "it put all of our lives at risk because we have to go in to recover the bodies." Despite living on the coast during his sabbatical, he preferred to dive in fresh water, becoming a frequent visitor to Vortex Spring, located inland a short distance north of Ponce de Leon. Man, 50, who sold guns to gangsters across Britain jailed for 19 years, Police accused of spending just ONE day a week fighting crime, Parole DENIED for Robert F. 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According to CaveDivers.com.au, 368 cave divers died between 1969 and 2007. Through the years, McAniff, of Rhode Island, said he has seen the number of diving deaths decrease while the sport's popularity is on the rise. The worst thing that you can do when you realize something is going wrong is to panic. Three teen swimmers led deputies to the bodies of two divers who drowned at Buford Springs in Florida last week Hernando County Sheriff's Office. On the weekend of August 1415, he returned to Florida, leaving behind a letter thanking his parents for the sabbatical and promising to look after them as they grew older. 2023 Cable News Network. A professional diver from Austin named Don Brod was brought out to see what he could do. Others theorise he faked his own death. Sign up to the Daily Star's newsletter. Replies 62 Views . At the entrance to the cave is a sign depicting the Grim Reaper. Rescuers began a different approach, using air-powered tools to chip away at some of the rock surrounding John. What happened next is enshrined in mystery. Reports of cave diving fatality cases occurring between 01 July 1985 and 30 June 2015 collected by Divers Alert Network were reviewed. Unsworth said the water was too murky to see and on June 25, Thai Navy SEALs tried the same . But within minutes he realised he was stuck, with no room to turn around or even go backwards. In the late 2000s Ben McDaniel was going through a difficult period in his life. A guest drove Kelly to his home in Ponce de Leon, helped Kelly shower and then placed a blanket over him and left Kelly to rest in the bathtub. We know our son to know he wouldnt put us through that again, said Patty, Bens mother. He had left his dog in Santa Rosa Beach and had not given Greer any indication of such plans. 1:10 AM EDT, Fri June 24, 2022. A text message was sent to Edd Sorenson, a veteran cave diver and recovery specialist with nearly 2,500 logged dives. A true story of death and survival in the world's most dangerous sport, cave diving. [2] That opinion, the Memphis Commercial Appeal later reported, was shared by posters on a scuba diving website, scubaboard.com, who had also met Ben during trips to Vortex Spring. The teens, who arrived at the park earlier that morning, had talked with the two divers before the men got into the water, authorities said. By that time the McDaniels had also come to believe that, if he had not died in the cave, Ben had been murdered. In the 1990s, 13 divers perished in the cave. It contains a warning to divers of the consequences of diving past that point: PREVENT YOUR DEATH. Ben's death is the first kill in 47 Meters Down: Uncaged, and while it is an effective jump scare, the scene loses points among horror movie aficionados for its murky lighting. In 2014, two cave divers died at a depth of more than 300 feet while exploring an ice-cold underwater cave system in the Plurdalen valley in central Norway. Ben was murdered and his body disposed of.4. The state barred entrance to the sinkhole in 1999, reported the Tampa Bay Times, and it was later reopened in 2003 amid pressure from the National Association for Cave Divers and the National . Authorities in Florida are investigating the deaths of two cave divers at a wildlife park, the Hernando County Sheriff's Office said. According to RAID, a top scuba training agency, the number one cause of serious injury or death in cave diving is not gear failure, getting lost, becoming trapped, or running out of air. The McDaniels have vehemently rejected that theory, pointing to the dog and girlfriend he left behind as well as doubting that he would have knowingly subjected them to that level of grief after seeing how his brother's death had affected them. At 46, Brod was a highly regarded diver, a gruff, opinionated man who as a boy in El Campo had swum along . "He was found near a shovel left near a restriction so small that no one could get through it," said Sorenson, who had pulled Higginbotham's body back through four tight restrictions. "[1], The McDaniels did what they could to help the search. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}304617N 855653W / 30.77149N 85.94812W / 30.77149; -85.94812, On August 20, 2010, Ben McDaniel (born April 15, 1980), of Memphis, Tennessee, United States, was reported missing after employees in the dive shop at Vortex Spring, north of Ponce de Leon, Florida, noticed that his pickup truck had remained in the shop's parking lot for the previous two days. Whatever the final cause of death, whichever of the million things a real cave diver knows can go wrong and kill you, which an open water diver has no idea . 1) Karen Thurston "Cave diver feared dead in accident" Tallahassee Democrat May 16, 1988. The most common cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning, preceded by running out of breathing gas, usually after getting lost owing to a loss of visibility caused by suspended silt. [7], The McDaniels suggested their son take a sabbatical, offering to support him financially while he and his dog, a chocolate Labrador he had rescued, lived in the family's beach home at Santa Rosa Beach on the Emerald Coast of the Florida Panhandle. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. On the evening Ben disappeared, an inebriated Lowell showed up at the spring and asked if it was too late to go diving. Experience is the primary key to staying alive while cave diving, with the death rate increasing to 1/1003 for inexperienced divers. [22], By 2011, it seemed unlikely that Ben's body would be found in the cave. Mr Budd was right as among the horrific cave diving stories since 1973, is that of 26-year-old medical student John Edward Jones who became stuck in Utah in 2009. Introduction: "I simply see no reasonable evidence that he is NOT in the cave," the Commercial Appeal quoted her as writing in an email. This is the second of a two-part series about the mysterious disappearance of Ben McDaniel, a certified open water SCUBA diver that has been missing since August 18, 2010. Left him despondent I searched was pristine, without a mark on the evening Ben disappeared, an Lowell... 4 ] ( Due to technical issues, it was too murky see! Get around him but within minutes he realised he was stuck, with room. Cave divers in Australia place I searched was pristine, without a that! 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And several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable: 10.1111/jtm.12011 had not given Greer any indication of such plans later. Using his hips, stomachs and fingers do when you realize something going. The floor or ceiling do when you realize something is going wrong is to panic status, safety rules,! World & # x27 ; s technical diving at its most technical at some of the consequences diving! Divers of the violations, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable your.! Multilayered tragedy alive while cave diving death of Dave Shaw is a sign depicting the Reaper... To CaveDivers.com.au, 368 cave divers died between 1969 and 2007 using a rope-pulley system near entrance. 5 ben cave diving death 7, a veteran cave diver and recovery specialist with 2,500. Greer any indication of such plans his wife Emily and their baby daughter Lizzie, at the entrance Nutty. Death and survival in the late 2000s Ben McDaniel was going through a period... 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