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Here's the article...printed without permission. So sue me. The paper thinks
he was on oxygen at 140. Hah.
Cave wall collapses, killing diver
Debris is delaying recovery of body
Associated Press
OCALA -- A cave wall collapsed Saturday on a diver who
died after he was trapped 140 feet below the surface of tiny
Paradise Springs.
It wasn't clear whether the man, who was not identified, died
immediately or whether he lingered until his oxygen ran out,
according to rescuers at the scene south of Ocala.
Divers were blocked from recovering the body by the large
amounts of debris trapping the man and the fear of
additional collapses.
``It looked like there was a large rock pinning the victim in
there,'' said deputy Scott Townley, of the Marion County
Sheriff's Department's Underwater Recovery Team. ``You're
going to need some heavy equipment to get him out -- if
ever.''
Sheriff's officials said the man and his girlfriend were
swimming out about 1 p.m. after finishing their second dive
of the day in the long, narrow cave. The woman looked back
to see her companion disappear amid falling rocks and a
plume of silt kicked up by the cave-in.
She swam to the surface to get help and returned with
another diver, but they could not get to the trapped man,
deputies said.
Curt Chappelka, owner of Paradise Springs, said the spring
is encased in a rocky corridor that stretches diagonally
before narrowing into a cave.
A sign containing the image of the grim reaper sits on a
ledge at the entrance to that cave to warn inexperienced
cave divers.
According to Chappelka, the victim was not certified for
cave diving but was in the deepest part of the cave.
``Every time anybody gets in trouble in Florida, it's because
they go beyond their abilities and go beyond their
certification,'' Chappelka said. ``It's a shame that people
ignore the signs and ignore the warnings.''
A specially trained underwater recovery team was expected
to survey the scene Sunday and devise a plan for retrieving
the body, according to Lt. Robert Douglas, a sheriff's
department spokesman.
``We've had drownings in here through the years. We had a
homicide here,'' Douglas said. ``A guy pushed his girlfriend in
there.''
Eric M. Delarue writes:
> read it in the Miami Herald. Non cave-trained diver died at Paradise
> Sprgs near Ocala..Cave collapse...trapped under a large
> boulder....girlfriend survived...No recovery yet.
>
>
>
> Eric M Delarue
> edelarue@bc*.se*.li*.fl*.us*
>
> On Sat, 21 Sep 1996, Marvin Rosen wrote:
>
> > I just heard on the news that a diver was trapped in an underwater cavein
> > no other details. Does anyoneknow anymore about this
> > --
> > Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@terra.net'.
> > Send subscription/archive requests to `techdiver-request@terra.net'.
> >
--
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