Australian rebreather diver David Shaw was revisiting Boesmansgat, South Africa, with a team of technical divers to try to recover the body of Deon Dreyer from 271m. He did not return from depth.

Shaw, who broke the world depth record for a rebreather dive with his earlier dive in Boesmansgat, was attempting the dive for the Dreyer family.

Outside of a commercial diving environment, nobody had ever attempted to perform work at such an extreme depth, the only other divers to achieve such depths - on open circuit - had dropped quickly down a line and immediately ascended, expending as little effort as possible.

Shaw was diving on a Mk 15 rebreather with enhanced electronics which had served him well on previous dives. Of the many problems associated with extreme depth, rebreather divers face the additional problem of carbon dioxide build-up. The scrubber material, which removes CO2, functions less efficiently at depth. Dreyer's body was embedded in silt on the sloping bottom of Boesmansgat cave and may well have required a considerable effort to work it free. However, it is highly unlikely that anybody will be able to determine exactly what happened to prevent Shaw from completing the dive.

The deepest support diver descended to look for Shaw when he realised that the run-time had been exceeded. From 250m he could not see Shaw's lights and realised that he was lost, most likely having blacked out and fallen further down the slope. The support diver was unable to investigate further and ascended, passing the message up to the chain of divers waiting above him.

Shaw was an experienced and accomplished diver who acted in a selfless fashion. He was open, friendly and happy to share his expertise with other divers. Many divers undertaking a record breaking dive would have focussed on themself and would not have stopped on discovering a body. Having contacted the Dreyer family, Shaw was committed to do what he believed was the right thing. It was his kindness and humanity which placed him in such extreme danger. His loss is felt deeply by technical divers world-wide.


Relevant links
David Shaw's cave diving web pages
Rebreather diver finds body at 271m in cave

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