39 yo Rebreather Caver dead - Marcilhac-sur-Célé, France

[DandyDon]

Lot : un plongeur trouve la mort dans un gouffre à Marcilhac-sur-Célé

Un plongeur a trouvé la mort ce jeudi à la source de Marchepied située à Marcilhac-sur-Célé, dans le Lot. L'accident a eu lieu aux alentours de 12h30. Le spéléologue belge de 39 ans était entouré de trois autres...

www.ladepeche.fr

Google translation...

Lot: a diver is killed in a chasm in Marcilhac-sur-Célé​

A diver was killed this Thursday at the Marchepied source located in Marcilhac-sur-Célé, in the Lot. The accident took place around 12:30 p.m. The 39-year-old Belgian caver was surrounded by three other professional divers who, like him, were part of a diving group. Several groups were present at the time of the incident. He had gone on reconnaissance when, 10 meters underwater and about twenty meters from the entrance to the resurgence in a narrow passage; he was the victim, according to the first elements, of a cardiac arrest. According to witnesses, he would also have tangled in his breadcrumb trail. Not seeing him rise to the surface, his teammates came to retrieve him and notified the emergency services after having carried out the rescue actions. In vain, the Figeac and Cahors firefighters were unable to revive him. Their intervention ended shortly after 5 p.m.

The sub-prefect went to the scene as well as the gendarmes of Libvernon, Figeac and Jean-Paul Mignat, the mayor of the town. "It's dramatic, this is the third diving accident in the town this year and the second fatal," he laments. In May, at the resurgence of Ressel, a diver was killed. Then fifteen days later, at the same source, a caver had been the victim of a decompression accident and had to be transported to a Toulouse hospital with a decompression chamber. He had survived.

 

[Miyaru]

To get an idea of the entrance:

The restriction is about 40m long at a depth of 7m, there is no space to get next to a diver that might need assistance:

The restriction is notorious. In 2019, a CCR diver lost consciousness when the oxygen tube got disconnected. He didn't make it.

 

[Altamira]

Holy S%^*! I have negotiated cave restrictions like that without dive gear when I was in college, and it was not fun then. I certainly would have passed on that challenge with the scuba gear I had then, and I can't imagine trying it with any kind of dive gear now. My sympathies to the diver's family and friends.

 

[Zef]

I have dived with the deceased diver while I was living in Belgium. I was notified today by a dive buddy and friend the 3 of us had in common. So sad, my heart goes out to Renaud's family.

-Z

 

[Zef]

The friend and dive partner we had in common just informed me he was on that dive with the deceased. It is too late in Belgium at the moment for a phone conversation but I was told he will call me tomorrow to discuss what happened.

There are always details the news media gets wrong or does not report on...hopefully I can get some details from my friend who was present.

The more we know and share the more we can understand and the better ability to prevent whatever happened from repeating.

-Z

 

[kensuf]

My deepest condolences to you and your friend that was on the dive for the loss of your friend Renaud.

 

[dimito]

Holy S%^*! I have negotiated cave restrictions like that without dive gear when I was in college, and it was not fun then. I certainly would have passed on that challenge with the scuba gear I had then, and I can't imagine trying it with any kind of dive gear now. My sympathies to the diver's family and friends.

I dove that cave multiple times. It's not as bad as it looks in the video. In sidemount you don't need to keep your tanks forward, there's plenty of room on the sides. I've also seen people go in twin 12ls, the start is squeeze but it's on a gravel bed, so you can dig yourself in and out.

A backmount rebreather can be a lot blukier than a twin set and you also have all the hoses and attachments there.

 

[Zef]

Recently spoke with my friend in Belgium who was on this dive. He informed me that currently the information about this incident is considered confidential until the police/med reports are published, but will fill me in as soon as he can.

-Z

 

[Zef]

****UPDATE****
DISCLAIMERS:
1. I am not a rebreather diver and have limited (at best) understanding of how rebreathers work.
2. Official information concerning this incident is not yet available as the diver's gear is still with authorities in France and the investigation continues to drag on.

The following information was provided by my friend and dive partner who was part of the group diving with the deceased diver:

While this was the first time this group had executed a dive at this site, the deceased had researched the site for previous attempts that were aborted due to adverse weather and currents.

The dive/cave was researched, planned, and briefed. Specific attention was given during the brief about the restriction that the deceased became stuck in. Among the unknowns were whether the deceased could fit through the restriction. The brief discussed that if he could not fit that he would back out and the group would abort the dive. They had planned to be in the area for a week and would choose a different dive site if the fateful dive was aborted...this indicates there was no pressure to execute this particular dive.

I am not sure what make/model rebreather was being used but I was told the counter-lungs were located on the chest area. Basically the deceased tried to squeeze through the restriction in the cave and his body morphology was too large to fit...it was explained to me that as he tried to force himself through he became stuck and caused his rebreather's counter-lungs to compress and empty. It is believed that his hands/and arms were extended ahead of him, or otherwise in a position that he could not reach the controls/valves of the rebreather or his bailout. The fact that he was head first in the restriction, the other divers in the group could not get a regulator to him.

It was mentioned that if the counter-lungs not compressed and controls were accessible that there would have been enough breathable gas for approximately 5-hours at the depth the deceased was stuck, which could have potentially been more than enough for a rescue to have been carried out instead of a recovery.

I was told the following additional information:
1. My friend and the other diver in the group were lucky that they were on the outside of the restriction when this happened as it took the fire department's rescue team approximately 45 minutes to free the deceased's stuck body.

2. Just 5 minutes before they entered the cave, a team of 5 divers exited...the luck of timing of the events on that sad day were such that greater disaster was avoided as potentially 6 people would have died instead of 1.

-Z