Font Estramar fatality - France

[DandyDon]

The pond, spring, and cave system are well known with a record of numerous fatalities in the caves. I don't know if these divers were entering or not. The diver who died was an emeritus diver member of the team of Luc Long, underwater archaeologist. See second link below.

Près de Perpignan. Un homme meurt dans le dangereux gouffre de Font Estramar

Mercredi 19 juillet 2023, un homme de 63 ans a perdu la vie dans un accident de plongée au gouffre de Font Estramar, près de Perpignan. Ce que l'on sait.

actu.fr

The diving session turns tragic. This Wednesday, July 19, 2023, at the end of the morning, a fatal accident occurred in the abyss of Font Estramar, near Salses-le-Château , confirms the Groupement de Gendarmerie des Pyrénées-Orientales to Actu Perpignan .

A man loses his life in Font Estramar​

Two very experienced divers , from Puy-de-Dôme, decided to challenge the waters of this exsurgence (outlet of underground water) as magnificent as it is dangerous.

But around 11:20 a.m., as the two divers completed a short journey 30 meters deep , one of them - a 63-year-old man - was found unresponsive on the surface, without his respirator.

After alerting the emergency services, his friend tried to resuscitate him by carrying out first aid gestures. When they arrived, the firefighters and SAMU also tried. In vain, unfortunately. The victim died on the spot .

Many dead in this unique abyss in the world​

A gendarmerie investigation has just been opened to find the causes of death. The investigations were entrusted to divers from the Saint-Cyprien nautical brigade. As a reminder, the Font Estramar chasm is prohibited for swimming and diving by municipal decree.

And for good reason, this unique site in the world, a true jewel of nature, has led to the death of many divers in recent decades. The exsurgence of Font Estramar, where the water is neither fresh nor completely salty, actually hides huge underwater galleries and a veritable underwater labyrinth.

If the diver Xavier Méniscus managed to reach the depth of -286 meters in 2019, a world record , other divers had a more tragic fate. In 2012, Jean-Luc Armengaud, originally from Gruissan, was found dead in the basin. Two other divers lost their lives in 2016, then in 2017.

In 2018, the Belgian extreme adventurer Marc Sluszny disappeared in Font Estramar. Ten days later, while searching for the body, a cave diver also dies. Sluszny's body will be found four months later. These were, until July 19, 2023, the last two fatal accidents at Font Estramar.

Près de Perpignan : le plongeur décédé dans le Font Estramar était un scaphandrier émérite membre de l'équipe de Luc Long, archéologue sous-marin

Le mercredi 19 juillet 2023, deux plongeurs expérimentés exploraient le gouffre de Font Estramar. L'un d'eux, Dominique Azam, âgé de 63 ans, a été victime d'un malaise lors de la remontée. Malgré les soins prodigués,...

www.lindependant.fr

Near Perpignan: the diver who died in Font Estramar was an emeritus diver member of the team of Luc Long, underwater archaeologist​