PHUKET — Two locally-based Russian cave divers are dead after an accident in the Chiao Lan reservoir in Surat Thani province.
The Khao Sok area, were the two Russians dived, is full of undersea caves, some of which reach more than 200 metres below the surface. (Bangkok Post photo)
The victims and two others rented a boat Sunday from the Chiewlan Municipal Pier and then dived to an underwater cave, believed to be known as Tiger Cave.
The victims and two others rented a boat Sunday from the Chiao Lan Municipal Pier and then dived to an underwater cave, believed to be known as Tiger Temple cave.
He was taken to Surat Thani General Hospital, where doctors decided he should be transferred to the decompression chamber at Vachira Phuket Hospital. However, he died while transport was being arranged.
A spokesman at Surat Thani Hospital said that Dokuchaev was believed to have drowned, but an autopsy has yet to be performed to establish this and the proximate cause of death.
Surat Thani deputy governor Wichawut Jinto, who visited Solomatin before his death, said, "Usually we prohibit people from diving alone without guidance in the reservoir. I will advise officials at the pier about this before they allow [boats with divers] to go out."
First reports from within the dive community in Phuket suggested that Dokuchaev may have suffered oxygen toxicity - a condition caused by a malfunction or misuse of rebreathing equipment, which can result in a seizure similar to epilepsy and loss of consciousness. Solomatin apparently suffered a lung embolism from ascending too fast from the depths of the cave.
However these scenarios have yet to be confirmed by medical experts.