since it's hidden...

[Cave Diver]

Cave diver's body found - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Short video clip: http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201102/r725594_5801584.asx

 

[gitterdun]

It is starting to make the rounds on Facebook...

 

[Cave Diver]

Victorian cave diver found dead at Tank Cave, Mt Gambier | Herald Sun

A MELBOURNE woman who died while cave diving in a 7km underground system in South Australia was a world class expert.

The 29-year-old Melbourne woman was found dead in Tank Cave, a 7km cave near Mt Gambier, in South Australia's southeast.

She was reported missing about 1.45pm yesterday in Australia's longest underwater cave system.

Authorities are now assessing whether it is safe to recover her body, with specialist divers expected to be needed for the operation.

South Australian Superintendent Trevor Twilley said the woman's body had been located about 500m from the cave entrance after divers worked through the night in pitch black conditions.

"Members of Cave Diving Australia will dive first to ensure the route through the twisting water-filled chambers to the body is clear," he said today.

He said the divers will take a video of the route before police divers were given the all-clear to enter the water and retrieve the body.

He said the dive was expected take between 3-4 hours.

If a dive was considered unsafe, police said they would consider tunnelling from the surface to reach the body.

 

[Cave Diver]

News has been officially released: Grim task to retrieve lost diver Agnes

Grim task to retrieve lost diver Agnes
Megan Levy
February 28, 2011 - 12:18PM


Police divers have begun the grim task of recovering the body of a Melbourne woman who died in an accident in Australia’s longest underwater cave system yesterday.

Agnes Milowka had dived many times previously in Tank Cave near Mount Gambier in South Australia, exploring and mapping its unknown passages.

The 29-year-old was well-known in diving circles both in Australia and around the world, and had worked as a stunt diver on James Cameron’s 3D diving film Sanctum.
Advertisement: Story continues below

On Friday, she Tweeted of her excitement about her impending diving trip to South Australia.

‘‘Another w-end of cave diving in Mt Gambier ... fabulous! Can’t wait to get underground,’’ she wrote.

Police are still trying to piece together what went wrong in Tank Cave, a maze-like system with more than seven kilometres of underwater passages.

At some time during yesterday’s dive, with a group from Victoria, she was believed to have left her buddy, and never returned.

Her fellow divers reported her missing at 1.45pm, with one able to identify an area within the cave system where Ms Milowka was last seen.

She was found overnight about 600 metres inside the cave system.

Officers have now sealed off the sinkhole and are devising a plan to retrieve her body.

(more at link)

 

[JahJahwarrior]

I think anyone who knew Agnes had a strong feeling this was her. It hits hard when someone you chatted with countless times while checking her in to dive at Ginnie, along with numerous springside chats, dies. When someone posts a link to a news article on her death on her Facebook page, that just makes me feel sick.

We can all talk about the mistakes she made, and analyze them critically, and that will be ok, but the rush to show off how you know inside info, seems classless.

May you rest in peace, my friend. Your smile brightened my day, your passion fed my passion, your skills urged me to hone my own skills, and you are one of several people I think about every time I'm in a tight situation underwater as well.

I edited this slightly after re-reading. I'm upset, hurt, and mourning the loss of a friend, and don't want to be irrational about things. I know most of you here are in the same place as me and are grieving as well.

 

[Cave Diver]

I'm a bit sick at how quick some people seem to be to post links to things in the threads here, as if they were showing off how quickly they had knowledge of the incident, but maybe I'm a bit sensitive. It hits hard when someone you chatted with countless times while checking her in to dive at Ginnie, along with numerous springside chats, dies. But when someone posts a link to a news article on her death on her Facebook page, that just makes me feel sick.

I only knew her very casually through her posts here and a couple of PM's. None of the links I posted was to show of any superior knowledge. In fact, quite the opposite it was to try and fill in some of the gaps for myself and others. I thought it was better to provide more factual reports than to have a bunch of speculation. If anyone was offended by anything I posted, I truly apologize. That was certainly not the intent.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

I only knew her very casually through her posts here and a couple of PM's. None of the links I posted was to show of any superior knowledge. In fact, quite the opposite it was to try and fill in some of the gaps for myself and others. I thought it was better to provide more factual reports than to have a bunch of speculation. If anyone was offended by anything I posted, I truly apologize. That was certainly not the intent.

I'm sure no one, not even the guy posting links to her death on her Facebook page, or the girl who asked how the dive was, almost a day after her death, meant to be disrespectful. I edited my post because the way I originally worded it made it seem like I was talking about you, and that was unintentional.