|
Divers' gear got entangled
12/01/2005 21:30 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Police say it seems as if drowned Australian diver Dave Shaw's equipment got entangled with the diving gear of Deon Dreyer, whose body he was trying to recover from the Boesmansgat freshwater cave.
Dreyer died about ten years ago after blacking out. His remains had been lying at a depth of 270m at the bottom of Boesmansgat - the world's third largest fresh-water cave.
Shaw went missing while trying to recover Dreyer's body.
Police spokesperson Ernst Strydom said on Wednesday night that the bodies had been brought to the surface shortly after 17:00.
"Police divers, assisted by technical divers, started recovering the ropes and other equipment from the water this morning when they saw Dave Shaw and Deon Dreyer's bodies at the cliff beneath the water."
Strydom said the divers were about 20 to 25m deep when they saw the bodies. There is a possibility that the bodies floated up when the divers pulled up the ropes used during the fatal dive. Strydom said it appeared that Shaw's equipment got entangled with Dreyer's diving gear.
Strydom said the gear from both bodies were tangled together when they surfaced.
"The ropes and equipment got entangled in one coincidental loop."
Strydom said an post mortem would be conducted on both bodies as part of the legal process.
"Thereafter arrangements will be made for the bodies to be returned to their families."
|
