Monday, June 18, 2012

Belgian Diver Dies During Cave Dive Initiation in Anhée


Alexandre Chowdhry, a forty years old diver from Bredene died this weekend during a cave dive initiation in the "Trou du Diable" (Devils hole) in Anhée, Belgium. The exact cause of the incident is still unknown.

The man was part of a larger group (13 persons) from open water dive school Coral from De Haan. The dive trip into the cave (actually an old submerged Blue Limestone mine) was part of an adventurous weekend organised by the dive school but supervised by local cave divers.

Not far from the entrance at a depth of 4 meters Alexandre signaled the "No-air" signal. His buddies who thought there was some problem with his equipment were able to pass a regulator to him, but after inhaling only once he stopped breathing and his body went numb.

His comrades were able to bring him back to the surface where they started CPR untill the emergency services took over. An ambulance took him to the nearby hospital in Mont-Godinne where he died from the results of a cardiac arrest.

The mine is a popular training spot amongst cave divers due to the large tunnels and good visibility, though there seems to be some discussions wether or not it was completely legal to dive there as access was forbidden for a while when some other cave diver died due to falling rocks a few years ago.


Monday, June 18, 2012

Belgian Diver Dies During Cave Dive Initiation in Anhée


Alexandre Chowdhry, a forty years old diver from Bredene died this weekend during a cave dive initiation in the "Trou du Diable" (Devils hole) in Anhée, Belgium. The exact cause of the incident is still unknown.

The man was part of a larger group (13 persons) from open water dive school Coral from De Haan. The dive trip into the cave (actually an old submerged Blue Limestone mine) was part of an adventurous weekend organised by the dive school but supervised by local cave divers.

Not far from the entrance at a depth of 4 meters Alexandre signaled the "No-air" signal. His buddies who thought there was some problem with his equipment were able to pass a regulator to him, but after inhaling only once he stopped breathing and his body went numb.

His comrades were able to bring him back to the surface where they started CPR untill the emergency services took over. An ambulance took him to the nearby hospital in Mont-Godinne where he died from the results of a cardiac arrest.

The mine is a popular training spot amongst cave divers due to the large tunnels and good visibility, though there seems to be some discussions wether or not it was completely legal to dive there as access was forbidden for a while when some other cave diver died due to falling rocks a few years ago.