The authorities said it was too dangerous to retrieve their bodies, but four . An equipment failure caused the rope system to plunge John right back into the same gap he'd been trapped in previously, and the rescue operation was back to square one. He inched his way into the Birth Canal head first, wiggling forward using his hips, stomachs and fingers. The grim mystery of where Ben is haunts the McDaniels family. Last month, Larry Higginbotham, 43, of Biloxi, Miss., drowned inside the cave at Vortex. DAN Divers Alert Network; Deaths; epidemiology; recreational diving; root cause analysis; technical diving. princeandprincessofwales. [2] The insinuation of cowardice alienated divers who had already risked their lives searching the cave,[17] and raised fears among them that it would only encourage untrained divers to enter the cave and take potentially fatal risks for the reward money. Paul was not being prescribed opiates. Ben drowned in an unknown section of the cave, or inside of the fissure.2. "[1], The McDaniels did what they could to help the search. While he was initially believed to have drowned on that dive, and his parents still strongly believe his body is in an inaccessible reach of the extensive cave system, no trace of him has ever been found. [2], McDaniel's dives at the site were regular enough that the dive shop employees and other frequent visitors came to know him. John left behind his wife Emily and their baby daughter Lizzie. Tank one, an "aluminum 80" (80 cubic ft capacity), full tank with a regulator, was found 200 feet (61m) inside the cave. Ben's brother who supposedly died from a stroke, actually died from a drug overdose; according to one pathologist there wasn't the slightest sign of a stroke. "Due to the circumstances with his body being held the way it was and being wedged, it was most likely difficult to get a full deep breath," Sgt Cannon said. Cave diving is perilous at the best of times but Tham Luang presents its own extreme challenges. The McDaniels were called, and they drove to Florida, along with Greer, to observe from the shore. Perhaps his body had been secretly removed from the cave before searching began and disposed of on land or it had washed out through the spring's outlet. Around 7:30p.m., as the sun began to set, he went in again. There were no signs of activity from aquatic scavengers like one would assume if there were a deceased body down there. Two cave divers . All contained normal air, not a specialized gas mix. 1) Karen Thurston "Cave diver feared dead in accident" Tallahassee Democrat May 16, 1988. Rescue efforts were due to get underway on June 24 with local British diver Vern Unsworth going alone. )[20], McDaniel was not the only person associated with Vortex Spring at the time facing serious legal issues. He was given an IV drip and some food and water, and was even able to speak to his wife over a police radio. But when John breathed in again, his chest expanded and he was wedged inside for good. . Nevertheless, police refused to treat it as a homicide, much to the dismay of Lynn-Marie Carty. Today, we're covering the true scary story of deep cave diver Dave Shaw. Manatee Springs SP cave fatality. On August 18th 2010, Ben McDaniel, a 30 year old scuba diver, vanished 115ft underwater in the cave at Vortex Spring, in Ponce De Leon, FL. After struggling to breathe for several hours, John became unresponsive shortly before midnight. His body was found the next day after he, too, had failed to return from a dive. Jill Heinerth says Dan's Cave on Abaco Island, Bahamas, is her "favorite cave on Earth." Diver and photographer Jill Heinerth has explored unmapped, underwater caves deep in the earth, as well as . The spring was closed and crime scene tape was tied from tree to tree while his disappearance was investigated. In addition, he incurred a hefty tax debt (est. A spelunker is somebody who explores caves as a hobby. Results: A total of 161 divers who died were identified, 67 trained cave divers and . The employees of the dive shop were familiar with Ben McDaniel, and knew his reason for being on the premises was to dive the spring. [2][1] Beginning at the gate, over 1,600 feet (490m) through the area's limestone bedrock have been mapped, to a depth of 310 feet (94m); the cave's full extent is unknown. According to RAID, a top scuba training agency, the number one cause of serious injury or death in cave diving is not gear failure, getting lost, becoming trapped, or running out of air. The .gov means its official. and transmitted securely. He was on a yacht in the Bahamas, leading an expedition. When the two men came back up, they talked with one another and then dove back in, authorities said. Absolutely. Other than the two tanks, there was no sign of Ben: no dive mask, no fins, no wet suit, no body. [2], On August 18, the Wednesday after he returned to the Santa Rosa Beach house, he went up to Vortex Spring again. THERES NOTHING WORTH DYING FOR it ominously reads. Armed with flashlights, they searched the spring. These are simply consequences of divers exceeding the limits of their personal training and experience. Simon Halliday, 49, from Clitheroe, Lancs, died at Lancaster Hole near Kirkby Lonsdale on 4 January, 2020. Unanswered Questions", "Mississippi Man Killed in Cave Diving Accident", "Questions remain about Lowell Kelly's death", "Parents of lost diver pin hopes for closure on team of dogs", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Disappearance_of_Ben_McDaniel&oldid=1104006595, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 August 2022, at 01:54. Without a body, closure is impossible. Earlier that day, a diver had had a confrontation with several teenagers on the property about their drinking; they eventually left but may have come back in an attempt to exact revenge. They were eventually able to partially free him using a rope-pulley system. "Ben was fearless. The McDaniels have vehemently rejected that theory, pointing to the dog and girlfriend he left behind as well as doubting that he would have knowingly subjected them to that level of grief after seeing how his brother's death had affected them. HHS Vulnerability Disclosure, Help But within minutes he realised he was stuck, with no room to turn around or even go backwards. Or something more sinister. About a week later concrete was poured into the main opening of the cave, sealing John inside forever. [1], Shelby does not believe Ben had any intention of abandoning his life. Everyone was relieved but then there was a heartbreaking twist. The entrance to Nutty Putty Cave was boarded up and declared a public health hazard. He had a failed marriage and financial trouble. It considers all the theories regarding its subject's disappearance: an accident as originally believed, a murder or coverup of the accident as the McDaniels have sometimes alleged, and the possibility of a staged disappearance to allow Ben to escape his problems, which McClellan believes. On his nights out with Greer, he told her of plans to eventually start a diving-related business. [2], The day had been hot, with temperatures around 90F (32C), and as evening came Ben began preparing for another dive. He continued Continue Reading He was found unresponsive at his home after suffering blunt force trauma to the head. For those who are willing to push boundaries to the absolute limits. Emergency medical services responded to a call and he was admitted to a hospital in Pensacola. appreciated. A text message was sent to Edd Sorenson, a veteran cave diver and recovery specialist with nearly 2,500 logged dives. [23], Among the divers who heard about the case was Jill Heinerth, a Canadian who has set the world record for deepest dive by a woman. 8600 Rockville Pike Home Bizarre Bizarre and Creepy Events The Missing Diver Ben McDaniel. [9], For the most experienced divers, some of whom come from around the world, the main attraction of Vortex Spring is the cave, which starts 300 feet (91m) from the cavern, at a depth of 115 feet (35m). Four died in the hole ( . They hired a Florida private investigator, Lynn-Marie Carty, who found that other people associated with Vortex Spring besides Kelly had criminal records. Rescuers from the Utah County Sheriff's Office arrived and began a complicated extraction attempt, made worse by the fact that John was in "absolutely the worst spot in the cave". Before We were able to hold his hand at some point.". if Ben wanted to end his life this way, then why would he go back to his parents and leave a note thanking them for giving him a chance, because he could have just dealt himself a fatal blow in the city where he lived before, my theory is that Ben wanted to end his life with- because of debts or problems at work, as he wanted to become a diver and get consent to penetrate the same narrow passages as professional divers. Other divers saw him looking closely at the area around the cave entrance, as if, it was later reported, he was planning something. [5], The following month, amid increasing criticism, the McDaniels rescinded the reward offer. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Jim Donaldson, a partner and manager at Big Blue Diving, a Koh Tao dive school, estimates that there were just six dive shops on the eight-square-mile island in 2000, a year after he arrived . [2][1], At Vortex Spring, which claims on its website to be the largest diving facility in the state,[8] divers descend into clear waters at a constant temperature of 68F (20C) fed by the Floridan Aquifer. Efforts to develop preventative interventions to address these hazards should continue. Unsworth said the water was too murky to see and on June 25, Thai Navy SEALs tried the same . The teens, who arrived at the park earlier that morning, had talked with the two divers before the men got into the water, authorities said. On November 24, the group ventured into the Nutty Putty Cave, a popular spelunking spot known for its tight twists . 2 Coincidentally, Lowell died under suspicious circumstances two years after Ben disappeared. Cadaver dogs picked up a scent along the bank of the spring as well as one in the water but when county health departments sampled the water, they found no indication of a spike in bacteria consistent with decomposition. Assisted by helicopters, they searched the swamps along the spring's outflow into Blue Creek and Sandy Creek to the Choctawhatchee River. Shelby also noted that Ben had seen the impact Paul's death had had on his parents. "If I had to guess his son suffered from some horrible narcosis. For more information, please see our "It's very narrow, very awkward, and it's difficult to get rescuers down there," rescuer Shawn Roundy told media at the time. He accepted the offer and moved into the house in April 2010. An official website of the United States government. Only one returns. John Edward Jones, 26, was a medical student and experienced spelunker (someone who explores caves as a hobby) who went cave diving with a group of friends while visiting family in Utah for Thanksgiving in 2009.. On November 24, the group ventured into the Nutty Putty Cave, a popular spelunking spot known for . "I know what I'm doing and I barely made it through," he told the Commercial Appeal. The death toll for all forms of diving decreased . "Not only did it endanger the lives of divers who would risk going farther than they should," said Sorenson, who was by then even more firmly convinced that their son had not died in the cave, "it put all of our lives at risk because we have to go in to recover the bodies." He was also still grieving for his younger brother Paul, a frequent rock climbing partner during their youth, who died in 2008 at the age of 22 from a stroke. Ben would have been aware of this requirement, if he had been researching cave diving, as his parents reported. Edd Sorenson (born October 17, 1959) is a technical cave diver known for numerous rescues of lost or trapped divers in the underwater caves of Florida particularly in Vortex Springs and Blue Springs Recreational Park. Authorities in Florida are investigating the deaths of two cave divers at a wildlife park, the Hernando County Sheriff's Office said. However, since Ben wasnt certified to go past the gate, makes it difficult for him to find a buddy to also engage in this reckless behavior. Methods: Reports of cave diving fatality cases occurring between 01 July 1985 and 30 June 2015 collected by Divers Alert Network were reviewed. He followed his passions. Belgian Ben Reymenants runs a dive shop in Phuket. [4] A reward they offered was rescinded in 2012 after the death of another diver who may have been trying to collect it, vindicating the criticism of the divers who had warned of that possibility and resented the McDaniels' insinuation that those who had searched for their son at great personal risk had not been "brave" enough.[5]. DandyDon; May 18, 2022; 5 6 7. Ben had found Paul unconscious in the family home and tried to revive him; he later became active in raising money for the foundation his parents established to support research into prevention and treatment of strokes. Things hadnt been going so well for Ben recently and he needed some time to clear his head. The cave diving death of Dave Shaw is a multilayered tragedy. No one is known to have seen him since. A decades-old mystery surrounding the death of a Florida cave diver has been solved by a simple experiment by three scientists in a lab at Florida State. This is the second of a two-part series about the mysterious disappearance of Ben McDaniel, a certified open water SCUBA diver that has been missing since August 18, 2010. That's practically a death sentence when you're scuba diving, so always be careful. At the time she believed that Ben, whatever his fate, was not in the cave's depths. In 1987, a woman attempting to break into a home was shot dead. . An experienced California diver who was helping with the exploration of the narrow underwater passageways that radiate from a well-known swimming hole in eastern New . [1], In 2011 Kelly ameliorated the charges against him by pleading no contest. "There is just as much reason to look above the water for Ben's body as there was to look below it in the cave," she told the Commercial Appeal. [2], Frustrated by the limitations the search had thus far encountered, and increasingly coming to believe that Ben's body was in an area of the cave no one had yet reached, the McDaniels offered a reward of $10,000, raised from money contributed at a benefit held on what would have been their son's 31st birthday, at the end of the year to anyone "brave" enough to go to those places and find it. Members of a specialized cave diving rescue team responded to the scene and found the second diver, also deceased, more than 130 feet below the surface, authorities said. Two days later, it was noticed that Bens car was still in the parking lot where it had remained for the past two days. That's right, the second most dangerous extreme sports by death rate statistics, cave diving. "Ultimately the decision was made that it was too much risk for the rescuers to remain there in an effort to get him out and the decision was made to leave him in place.". After resurfacing he filled his tanks at the dive shop, a transaction recorded on security cameras (it is not known what he filled those tanks with). Teacher with prosthetic Z-cup breast FINALLY put on leave. The worst thing that you can do when you realize something is going wrong is to panic. We know our son to know he wouldnt put us through that again, said Patty, Bens mother. On Valentine's Day of 2000, 9-year-old Asha Degree packed her bags in the middle of On December, 24, 1945, a fire destroyed the Sodder family's home in Fayetteville, West Virginia, Dorothy was harassed relentlessly by a terrifying stalker who ultimately abducted and killed her. [2] That opinion, the Memphis Commercial Appeal later reported, was shared by posters on a scuba diving website, scubaboard.com, who had also met Ben during trips to Vortex Spring. Ben McDaniel was the oldest of three brothers born to Shelby and Patty McDaniel. But what happened to a keen young explorer deep in the bowels of Utah's famous cave system must surely take the cake as the worst death of all time. His family said the diver wasn't looking for Ben McDaniel, but cave divers are skeptical.The family steadily increased a reward to $30,000, which incensed the cave diving community because they thought it was recklessly encouraging inexperienced divers to . Others theorise he faked his own death. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}304617N 855653W / 30.77149N 85.94812W / 30.77149; -85.94812, On August 20, 2010, Ben McDaniel (born April 15, 1980), of Memphis, Tennessee, United States, was reported missing after employees in the dive shop at Vortex Spring, north of Ponce de Leon, Florida, noticed that his pickup truck had remained in the shop's parking lot for the previous two days. government site. July 2 - Rick and John make contact with the boys and their t coach two and half . The man escaped, and prosecutors later charged Kelly with assault and kidnapping in the incident. We also may change the frequency you receive our emails from us in order to keep you up to date and give you the best relevant information possible. Updated: Jun 24, 2022 / 04:53 AM EDT. "Ben was brave," his father later said. "The last place I searched was pristine, without a mark that a diver had been there. Ten people, including two who were found Monday, have had fatal incidents inside the Eagle's Nest cave dive area in Western Florida since 1981. A total of 161 divers who died were identified, 67 trained cave divers and 87 untrained. Ben had endured a failed marriage and a bankrupted construction company that left him despondent. Turn around or even go backwards Lonsdale on 4 January, 2020 and I barely made it,! Cave diver feared dead in accident & quot ; cave diver and recovery specialist with 2,500... Hazards should Continue fate, was not the only person associated with Vortex Spring besides Kelly criminal. Eventually able to hold his hand at some point. `` went in again three brothers to! Shelby also noted that Ben, whatever his fate, was not the only person associated Vortex. 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