Diver's body recovered after incident in Tank Cave in SA's south-east
The man died while diving at Tank Cave on Sunday. (ABC South East SA: Sam Bradbrook)
In short:
The body of a 65-year-old Victorian man has been recovered from an underwater cave system in South Australia's south-east, police say.
Police were called to the scene near Tantanoola on Sunday, following reports a diver had drowned.
What's next?
Police say the circumstances that led to the man's death will be examined.
The body of a man who died while cave diving in South Australia's south-east on Sunday has now been recovered, police say.
The 65-year-old Victorian man died in Tank Cave, which is near Tantanoola and where emergency services were called on Sunday morning.
His death prompted a significant recovery operation involving the SA Police Water Operations Unit, specialists from the Cave Divers Association of Australia and Thai cave rescue hero Richard Harris.
The association's national director, Grant Pearce, said the man who died was an experienced diver whose loss came as "quite a shock" for the close-knit cave diving community.
He said the man was with two others in a planned dive in the underwater cave's 8 kilometre "maze passage system" when he realised he could not follow them, so turned back.
"Through his training and experience, he decided that the best thing to do was turn around and start to head back out,"Mr Pearce said.
"They already had plans about if they were separated to rendezvous at a particular point within the cave."
Grant Pearce says the diver's death came as a shock to the tight-knit cave diving community. (ABC News)
He said the two other divers waited at the agreed site, but he did not arrive.
They began searching and found him about 50m away from where he had left his companions.
Mr Pearce said it was unclear what had happened, but said there were no collapses and the divers had not become stuck.
He said the diver was a friend, and described him as "a very energetic chap" who was "very funny".
"He was a very solid diver and he had quite a lot of experience diving here," Mr Pearce said.
He said Dr Harris, who had helped with previous recoveries from the cave, had led the retrieval team.
Mr Pearce said the diver's death was the third at the site, which was owned by the association, and it would now be closed for a period out of respect for the diver's family.
Police say the circumstances that led to the man's death will be examined. (ABC South East SA: Sam Bradbrook)
Police said they were initially called to the scene following reports of a drowning, but Superintendent Trent Cox said the circumstances that led to the man's death would be investigated.
"The coronial process is all about determining the cause of death, what led to it, but in terms of whether there was a rock fall or anything like that, it's too early to tell I'm afraid," he said at a press conference on Monday.
"The cave system … is extremely complex. It's a labyrinth of tunnels — big, small, of varying degrees of accessibility.
"It's a complex scene [and we're] very mindful of the trauma that family is experiencing."
The cave is one of 32 diving locations in the region. (Supplied: Richard Harris)
Superintendent Cox said the man, whose body was found at a site known as P7, was part of a group of three, all of whom were "experienced cave divers".
He said the other two were also "understandably traumatised".
"They were well known to one another," he said.
The cave is about 25 kilometres from Mount Gambier and is one of 32 diving locations in the region.
Police said two members of its Water Operations Unit had played a support role, with the actual retrieval undertaken by divers from the Cave Divers Association of Australia.
Retired anaesthetist and cave diver Dr Harris, who came to public prominence after using his medical training to help rescue 12 young football players and their coach from a flooded cave system in northern Thailand in 2018, was also on scene.
Superintendent Cox said the 2019 joint Australian of the Year had been assisting "by lending his expertise".
"He's obviously got great expertise in this area with his history, but he's also part of a larger group and it's very much a team effort," he said.