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 Mexico has died, authorities confirmed on Thursday.
The initial investigation suggests 43-year-old Shane Thompson’s death below the Blue Hole, a tourist destination in the community of Santa Rosa, was an accidental drowning.
Police Chief Jude Gallegos said Thompson was among about 10 people from the ADM Exploration Foundation who were at Blue Hole for a multiple-day exploration. The group has been working on surveying the underwater cave system since 2013.
Photo: AP
Thompson dove into Blue Hole on March 26 with another experienced diver, Mike Young, Gallegos said, adding that they planned to have Young enter part of the cave system while Thompson stayed outside in a safety role.
Gallegos said that instead of staying outside, Thompson entered.
“Apparently something went horribly wrong, and he started to panic,” he said.
The divers were about 48.77m below the surface when the incident happened.
It still was unclear on Thursday what went wrong. It could be weeks before autopsy results are available, the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator said.
No more exploration is planned of the underwater cave system at Blue Hole, ADM Exploration Foundation president Curt Bowen said.
“The cave system below is walled out. That means there is no cave passage left to explore,” he said in an e-mail. “We mapped everything we could fit through, and it ended in a tight rock breakdown at a depth of 194 feet [59.13m].”
Because of the extreme environment within the cave system, the city accepted the group’s recommendation that the cave system remain off-limits to the public. The divers covered and secured the grate at the bottom of the bell-shaped swimming hole to prevent untrained divers from gaining access.
Family members on Thursday said they were struggling with Thompson’s death, but they acknowledged that diving was what he loved to do and that he had earned numerous certifications during his lifetime.
A Navy veteran, Thompson began diving at a young age while growing up in the Florida Keys. After earning his first certification, he went to work for an underwater construction company and later started numerous diving businesses that focused on everything from boat maintenance to salvage work and training.
Last year, Thompson rediscovered the wreckage of the B-36 “Peacemaker” bomber that had crashed in 1952 near Mission Beach. A video posted by Thompson’s San Diego-based Advanced Underwater Training business shows his flashlight scanning the engines and other corroded pieces of the plane as he makes his way through the darkness more than 76.2m below the surface.
In New Mexico, the Blue Hole has been an attraction for centuries. Legend has it that outlaw Billy the Kid would take a dip at the swimming hole before heading into Santa Rosa.
The artesian spring, tucked into a rock outcropping, pumps out about 11,356 liters per minute. The steady flow results in crystal clear conditions that have attracted divers from around the world.
Beyond the grate, Gallegos described the cave system as “a maze — kind of looks like intestines.”
In the coming weeks, Bowen said he plans to complete a three-dimensional map that will illustrate the entire Blue Hole system.
The caves have been sealed off since 1976, when two divers in training died after getting separated from their classmates. New Mexico State Police divers quickly found one of the bodies, but it took several weeks to find the other. In the process, police divers made a crude map of some of the unexplored passages.
At that time, one of the divers descended and found himself at the edge of an underwater cliff. His powerful flashlight was not enough to see the cave wall across from him or the bottom, sparking only more curiosity.
In 2013, divers with the ADM Exploration Foundation attempted an expedition, but they had little success getting past the tonnes of rock the city dumped onto the grate to keep people out.
Divers with the foundation returned last year for more excavation work and were able to reach a depth of 48.77m. They returned in late March to continue surveying.
Divers from around the region flock to Blue Hole for fun and certification, as it is one of the best diving spots in the US southwest. About 8,000 dive permits are sold each year.
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