Since running out of gas was associated with the greatest number of fatalities for trained divers, we recommend that gas management rules should receive the greatest emphasis in cave diving courses. Untrained divers were more likely to have dived without a guideline, without appropriate number of lights, and/or without adequate gas for the planned dive. Compared with untrained divers, trained divers tended to be older, died at deeper depths and further inside caves, carried more cylinders of gas and more often died alone. Drowning was the most frequent cause of death, most often after running out of gas, which usually followed getting lost or starting the dive with insufficient gas. The number of deaths per year peaked in the mid-1970s and has diminished since. Safety rules breached were noted in each case. Only a small percentage of anchialine caves have been explored, much less scientifically studied, suggesting many new discoveries still wait.įatality records for American cave-diving fatalities (n = 368) occurring between 19 were examined and circumstances preceding each death categorized. Investigations of anchialine caves and their fauna by diving are a recent development so that much work remains. Chemoautotrophically based food webs have been identified providing food in the otherwise lightless and nutrient-limited cave environment. Some groups of anchialine fauna are found on opposite sides of oceans or even opposite sides of the Earth, and others have close relatives in the deep sea. A number of new higher taxa, e.g., class Remipedia and order Mictacea, exclusively occur in this habitat. A diverse, specially adapted fauna, dominated by crustaceans and other invertebrates, inhabit deeper, euhaline waters in anchialine caves. Use of specialized scientific cave-diving technology is essential to access this environment. They primarily occur on oceanic islands and some peninsulas with karstic limestone or volcanic terrain and include some of the longest explored caves on Earth. Efforts to develop preventative interventions to address these hazards should continue.Īnchialine caves are tidal, subterranean, inland habitats with a salinity-stratified water column and exchange of saltwater with the sea. An overwhelming majority of the fatalities occurred in the state of Florida where many flooded caves are located.Įven with improvements in technology, the greatest hazards faced by cave divers remain unchanged. The most common cause of death was asphyxia due to drowning, preceded by running out of breathing gas, usually after getting lost owing to a loss of visibility caused by suspended silt. Trained cave divers who died in the most recent time period were older but little else differed. Data regarding trained cave divers were divided into two equal 15-year time periods. While the annual number of cave diving fatalities has steadily fallen over the last three decades, from eight to less than three, the proportion of trained divers among those fatalities has doubled. Training status, safety rules violated, relevancy of the violations, and root causes leading to death were determined.Ī total of 161 divers who died were identified, 67 trained cave divers and 87 untrained. Reports of cave diving fatality cases occurring between 01 July 1985 and 30 June 2015 collected by Divers Alert Network were reviewed. Cave divers enter an inherently dangerous environment that often includes little visibility, maze-like passageways and a ceiling of rock that prevents a direct ascent to the surface in the event of a problem.
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