To me, the disappearance of Ben McDaniel is cave diving's greatest mystery. That being said, cave diving comes with heightened risk. Ben McDaniels parents believe two things: That their 30-year-old son dived into an underwater cave in Vortex Springin Florida on the 18th of August, 2010. Cave diving is for the most adventurous of scuba divers. 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. The rescue mission became a body recovery operation, but it became apparent that it would simply be too dangerous to get John out of the passage. The 26-year-old was a medical student, father of one and an experienced spelunker, John Edward Jones died after getting trapped upside in a nightmarishly narrow cave passage in 2009, This diagram shows how John was firmly wedged upside down in a narrow passage, Nutty Putty Cave is located south of Salt Lake City, Utah, Rescuers worked for hours to try to pull John out to no avail, A memorial plaque to John stands near the entrance to Nutty Putty Cave. Shortly after, the group of teens saw one of the divers floating face down and when they checked on him, received no response. Afterwards, she and her husband Robert McClellan, both certified cave divers and documentary filmmakers, went to Vortex Spring to make a short video. The father-of-one's tragic mistake was thinking he could squeeze into the same spaces as a six-foot man than he did when he was a lot younger and smaller. An experienced California diver who was helping with the exploration of the narrow underwater passageways that radiate from a well-known swimming hole . On a hot August night, Ben McDaniel attempted the adventure of a lifetime. Very interesting. The body of a cave diver still remains trapped upside-down after his ghastly death. It contains a warning to divers of the consequences of diving past that point: PREVENT YOUR DEATH. The water was rising up the cave wall, and Rob returned through the rapidly filling S-bend, so he wouldn't get trapped without diving gear. The former owner, Lowell Kelly, was charged with driving an ex-employee into the woods and accused him of stealing money before beating him viciously with a baseball bat. Despite nearly nonstop dives by more than 16 recovery divers over a 36 day period, no traces of Ben were ever found.This video is the main reason why I started this channel. By Phil Helsel. They hoped to show it to the McDaniel family in the hopes of giving them a better understanding of the risks associated with cave diving, and "closure", as Heinerth put it. Today, we're covering the true scary story of deep cave diver Dave Shaw. After struggling to breathe for several hours, John became unresponsive shortly before midnight. 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. 1 This location was perfect for Ben, who was an avid diver. Over the forthcoming years, experienced divers continued to search the spring for any sign of Ben at the request of his parents who had offered a reward. [1] But on the night of the 18th, they instead went back to Taran's house for coffee. 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. If Edd Sorenson says Bens not in the cave, hes not there. In 2014, two cave divers died at a depth of more than 300 feet while exploring an ice-cold underwater cave system in the Plurdalen valley in central Norway. [14] The talk box, originally located in the Piano Room of the cave, was moved to the basin area of Vortex Springs and is now at a depth of only 21 feet (6.4m). The ex-employee managed to escape into the woods but was left so shaken that he moved his family out of town and swore he would never return. A guest drove Kelly to his home in Ponce de Leon, helped Kelly shower and then placed a blanket over him and left Kelly to rest in the bathtub. After struggling to breathe for several hours, John became unresponsive shortly before midnight. John Edward Jones, 26, was a medical student and experienced spelunker who went cave diving with a group of friends while visiting family in Utah for Thanksgiving in 2009. He told them he was working on getting certified as an instructor so he could find a job and that he was researching cave diving with an eye toward getting that certification as well. Ben was last seen by two Vortex Spring (VS) employees at the gate blocking untrained and non-certified divers from entering the most dangerous parts of the cave. Bookshelf Two tanks known to belong to McDaniel were found near the entrance to the cave. [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. A true story of death and survival in the world's most dangerous sport, cave diving. Two friends plunge 900 ft deep into the water of the Komali Springs in South Africa, to raise the body of a diver who had perished there a decade before. [10] At some points, the passage narrows to 10 inches (25cm), requiring divers to remove their tanks, push them forward through the passage, and then twist their bodies to follow. Seig Lu. John left behind his wife Emily and their baby daughter Lizzie. Whether it's for sport or research reasons, cave diving is an extremely dangerous activity. 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. "He just got himself in a pinch and couldn't find his way back out", said one of the divers who recovered the body. His only option was to keep moving forward, and exhaled the air from his chest so he could fit through the "L-shaped pinpoint" which was just 10 inches across and 18 inches high. "It's a really tight spot, but we've been able to get around him. His parents and girlfriend say the move was proving beneficial, as Ben was beginning to think and talk about moving on from his recent personal setbacks. 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. [2][1], Relocating to the Gulf Coast allowed Ben to indulge in his preferred hobby, scuba diving. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. A memorial plaque to John stands near the entrance to Nutty Putty Cave, 12 years since the tragedy took place. A memorial plaque to John stands near the entrance to Nutty Putty Cave. 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. They hired a Florida private investigator, Lynn-Marie Carty, who found that other people associated with Vortex Spring besides Kelly had criminal records. He was wearing a dive mask, fins, and a wet suit. 8600 Rockville Pike It would be impossible to go through that restriction without making a mark on the floor or ceiling. They hired Steve Keene, who had originally mapped the Vortex Spring cave in 2003, to look. I plan to make a longer video covering all of the different theories and all of the details I left out at a later time.I would like to also thank the YouTube Channels deepswim and dcainret for the fantastic footage of Vortex Spring I was able to use; including some of Ben and the initial recovery efforts.The footage used in this video come from the YouTube channels of:dcainret:https://www.youtube.com/user/dcainret/videosdeepswim:https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=deepswimVideo of Ben McDaniel inside of Vortex Spring:https://youtu.be/VbyoBlQtjNUVideo of the ROV:https://youtu.be/4QuxtejMUR0Songs: Emmit Fenn: CreepMaksym Bubyriev - Conspiracy Theory Short Version BEsther Abrami - No.8 Requiem\"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for \"fair use\" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. [1][2], The cadaver dogs searched the woods around Vortex Spring without success. I did a search for it but didn't find anything posted..the fact of not knowing if he ever came out of the cave or not is what I find most compelling. Epub 2013 Jan 31. The entrance to Nutty Putty Cave was boarded up and declared a public health hazard. The divers who recovered his body believed he was, however. Ben did not have the certification required . [2], In March 2012, the McDaniels arranged for cadaver dogs to search the area of the springs again, but with no results. What happened next is enshrined in mystery. What happened next is enshrined in mystery. A Warner Bros. Four died in the hole ( . Other divers, and an official with International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery, told him it was too dangerous to search any deeper into the cave. Stanton and Volanthen have worked together on . Two other tanks, lacking regulators, were attached to the "talk box" in the outer cavern area, (Piano Room) where the talk box was located at the time. The Pair Have Been Involved in Other Rescues. And that he is dead. Taran, who had suspected for some time that Ben was forcing the gate open, went down to him and unlocked it, watching Ben go in and then returning to Cronin. A professional diver from Austin named Don Brod was brought out to see what he could do. 2 Coincidentally, Lowell died under suspicious circumstances two years after Ben disappeared. An inquest has heard how a cave-diver in Cumbria drowned close to the surface early last year, after a problem was thought to have occurred with his rebreather, a unit under development. 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. Simon Halliday, 49, from Clitheroe, Lancs, died at Lancaster Hole near Kirkby Lonsdale on 4 January, 2020. The dive shop withheld the gate key, unless a diver showed proof of cave diving certification, which requires two months' training including 125 dives with an instructor or certified diving partner. They never saw him again. When the footage was reviewed, his team realized that Dave had captured his last moments underwater attempting to free Deon Dreyer from the depths of the cave. [3], McDaniel had been living at his parents' beach house on the Emerald Coast during a sabbatical in the wake of a divorce, a business failure, and the death of his younger brother two years earlier. Updated. July 2 - Rick and John make contact with the boys and their t coach two and half . The site is secure. 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. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. 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. One of the employees, Chuck Cronin, believed that while McDaniel had the proper equipment and considerable diving knowledge, he was often overly confident in his abilities and not shy about saying so. Something went wrong, please try again later. Things hadnt been going so well for Ben recently and he needed some time to clear his head. "The last place I searched was pristine, without a mark that a diver had been there. [12] He spent much of the rest of the afternoon by himself alongside the spring, witnesses said, testing equipment and making notes in his dive log. Ben's tanks, wet suit and other diving equipment were not present and there were no signs of a struggle near his truck or anywhere else he could have been. [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. A decade later, while on a dive at the same site, Shaw found Dreyer's missing body. They were eventually able to partially free him using a rope-pulley system. The British cave diver who led the rescue of the Thai boys' soccer team and personally saved the captain, Duangpetch Promthep, has opened up about the heartbreaking death of the 17-year-old. DAN Divers Alert Network; Deaths; epidemiology; recreational diving; root cause analysis; technical diving. He died despite a last-ditch . He had left his dog in Santa Rosa Beach and had not given Greer any indication of such plans. Training status, safety rules violated, relevancy of the violations, and root causes leading to death were determined. Yes, Thai Cave Rescue is based on the true story of the rescue of 12 Thai boys from youth soccer team the Wild Boars and their coach from the Tham Luang Cave, between June 23 and July 10, 2018. Cave diving is perilous at the best of times but Tham Luang presents its own extreme challenges. Shelby also noted that Ben had seen the impact Paul's death had had on his parents. "Ben was brave," his father later said. The McDaniels devoted their family's extensive financial resources to the search, at one point guaranteeing the replacement cost of a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV). He is thought to be part of the group that first found the boys on the Monday. That's practically a death sentence when you're scuba diving, so always be careful. #cave #cavediving #cavestory #disappearance #disappeared #diving #accidentOn August 18th, 2010, 30-year-old open water diver, Ben McDaniel, was last seen diving in the underwater cave at Vortex Spring in Ponce de Leon, Florida. Was it an accident? Zacaton is the deepest of five ceynotes located on a large ranch, El Rancho Asufrosa, in northeastern Mexico. Unquenchable heroism and complex human relationships amid the perils of extreme sport. However, you might think that when 2 workers left for coffee without waiting for Ben, he couldRead more . An official website of the United States government. 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. Replies 39 Views 2,017. Prevent your death!' said sign at Florida underwater cave. Veteran Cave diver Brett Hemphill believes it was likely a painless death. 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. Deputies were alerted Wednesday afternoon after one of three teenagers who were spending the day at the Buford Springs Cave called 911, the sheriffs office said. government site. GO NO FARTHER. . The cave is located in the Chassahowitzka Wildlife Park in Weeki Wachee, roughly an hour north of Tampa. There were some rather distasteful discussions as well, things that nobody really wanted to do," Sgt Cannon said. He accepted the offer and moved into the house in April 2010. Emily was also expecting their second child at the time, a boy who was born the following year and named after his dad. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. The spring consists of a 200ft basin which leads to an underground cave system. He continued Continue Reading Shane Thompson, an experienced scuba diver with a passion for cave explorations, died at the Blue Hole State Park when the 43-year-old father and husband got lost and trapped in an unmarked . "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. Richard and fellow diver John Volanthen were the first divers to reach the stranded group in an underground network in Chiang Rai province ahead of their successful rescue. . 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. 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 . Discovery Company. In 2008, the McDaniel family suffered a tragedy when their youngest son, Paul, died from a stroke. As the sun faded on the 19th of August, 2010, Ben walked down the narrow dock and slipped in the clear, warm, water of Vortex Spring. One of the divers is believed to have mentioned that he possibly had a leak in his tank.. 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". The oldest of three sons born to Shelby and Patty McDaniel, a wealthy couple who lived in Collierville, Tennessee, outside Memphis, he had returned to live with his parents after his marriage ended in divorce and his construction business failed, the latter leaving him with tax debts of almost $50,000 to the Internal Revenue Service and the state of Tennessee. Two days later, when a worker at Vortex Spring noticed that Ben's truck was still in the parking lot, the Holmes County Sheriffs Office were called, and a recovery effort started. [2], McDaniel's dives at the site were regular enough that the dive shop employees and other frequent visitors came to know him. This was the last time Ben was ever seen. He came to Vortex Springs the next day. 186. Cookie Notice My gut feeling tells me someone closely involved with the last sighting of Mr. McDaniel knows more about his disappearance than they are letting on. He had come to know Ben in the past couple of months. According to the BBC, local officials had given up . Through the years, McAniff, of Rhode Island, said he has seen the number of diving deaths decrease while the sport's popularity is on the rise. The Hernando County Sheriff's Office shared this photo of the area near the Buford Springs Cave where the two cave divers died. Seeing a massive great white shark ambushing Ben and dragging him off mid-sentence makes for a terrifying jolt, but the subsequent grey blur could hardly be called chilling. "I simply see no reasonable evidence that he is NOT in the cave," the Commercial Appeal quoted her as writing in an email. By that point John had been hanging upside down for more than eight hours. News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worlds leading global business publication He was wearing a dive mask, fins, and a wet suit. 27-30. Ben was not cave-trained, he had absolutely no business being inside a cave. The following is a list of the 136 identified recorded fatalities associated with recreational caving in the UK. Normally you had to have a buddy system before you was allowed to get the group I never knew them to allow a single diver go on their own. Former Firefighter Richard Stanton played a crucial role in the Tham Luang cave rescue in Thailand in 2018. 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