Boesmansgat
Boesmansgat, also known in English as "Bushman's Hole", is believed to be the third-deepest submerged freshwater cave (or sinkhole) in the world, approximately 270 meters (886 feet) deep. It is located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa.
Boesmansgat was believed to be first explored by amateur diver Mike Rathbourne in 1977.
On November 24, 2004, Verna van Schaik set the Guinness Woman's World Record for the deepest dive with a dive to 221 meters (725ft).
Deaths
Eben Leyden died in 1993 after blacking out at 200 feet.[1]
In 1994, while helping a team prepare for a dive, Deon Dreyer died.[1][2]
On January 8, 2005, famed deep cave diver Dave Shaw died while recovering Dreyer's remains from a depth of over 800 feet (about 245 meters). Shaw, using a rebreather apparatus and suffering from nitrogen narcosis while attempting to place the remains in a body bag, became entangled in his own lines and blacked out. Later, as the recovery team was removing equipment, both bodies floated to the surface, apparently pulled to a depth where the gasses in Shaw's body expanded and gave it buoyancy.[1]
In literature
The death of the parents of one of the protagonists while diving in Bushman's Hole is an important plot device in Mo Hayder's novel Ritual.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Raising the Dead". Outside Magazine. August 2005. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
- ↑ http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/515/good-guys?act=3
Coordinates: 27°55′18″S 23°38′30″E / 27.92167°S 23.64167°E