Two More Cenotes Fatalities This Week - Mexico

[DandyDon]

That makes little sense, how do 2 snorkeless die together? Freediving? Odd

How can two snorkelers, divers, swimmers, whatever they were doing die together to be found on the surface? It does happen, but this is my only guess as well...

[speculation]
The only way I can see an instructor dying is if he went after a foolish tourist, and they couldn't get back out.
[/speculation]

 

[MMM]

It seems that they were snorkeling, not scuba diving. Sad anyway.

Never underestimate the possibility for translation errors or media reporting errors. This may or may not have been a snorkelling/scuba accident.

 

[Jack Hammer]

They still tend to get lumped into "cave diving accidents" regardless

 

[iamrushman]

feeling sad for the victims and their families.....

 

[glassbottom]

I've been through a swimthrough or two that turned out to be a bit longer than they looked. An instructor would know you can't always tell how far it is in open water in broad daylight. To go breathholding into an overhead in the dark is paging Dr. Darwin.

I was at Ginnie this weekend watching a couple free divers dive into and out of the ballroom. I was just sitting outside the entrance (on the bottom) amazed at what i saw. His buddy was at the surface watching but you can only see like 10 feet in from the outside of the cavern entrance and i definitely lost sight of him sitting right at the entrance so i know his buddy was useless. He had no light as well that i could tell.

Even my buddy tapped me and just looked in amazement at what we were witnessing.

 

[lv2dive]

Realize I'm a bit late to this topic but I wanted to add that it is, in fact, possible to drown snorkeling in OW in a cenote... Cenotes are often full of trees/branches. One could easily dive down just a few feet below the surface, get a foot or hand trapped, panic, and drown. Once the body relaxes, the entrapment resolves and the body floats to surface. I could see how two could drown if one was trying to assist the trapped person.

 

[Doc Harry]

How do people die snorkeling in a cenote?

The cavern zones in many of the cenotes are very complex, and I can see that it would be very easy for an inexperienced snorkeler to get disoriented and end up in an overhead zone with no obvious way out.

 

[BLC1989]

I am a friend of one of the divers who lost her life March 9, 2016 at age 26. She was an excellent sWimmer, was a lifeguard, she was so amazing, she was inspirational for her to not have made it out, my guess is she somehow got trapped...and I cant get over this, I can't wrap my head around it and to think the pain and awful feeling of not being able to breath...she didnt go down without a fight...that I do know.
I wish I knew more about what happened. I miss her. Shes a beautiful angel who grew her wings to soon.

 

[iamrushman]

sorry for your loss.....