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It is extremely sad when you do what you love and things like this happen. We all know how dangerous it’s cave diving, but when a real expert dies in an incident like today’s … the whole scuba diving community feels a bit emptier.
As reported by News.com.au , cave diver Agnes Milowka ran out of air and suffocated after becoming disorientated, says a fellow diver who has seen her body.
Dr Richard Harris, a close friend of 29-year-old Ms Milowka, is part of the retrieval team which has been trying to clear the way for police divers to pull her body from Tank Cave, near Mount Gambier.
Dr Harris, who has seen Ms Milowka’s body submerged in 20m of water about 550m from the cave entrance, says she did not become trapped before her death.
Agnes Milowka was for sure one of the best cave divers in Australia, she had recently worked as a stunt diver for James Cameron’s new blockbuster Sanctum 3D, which is now showing across Australia.
Learn more about Agnes at http://www.agnesmilowka.com
I never met Agnes, but have been in a similar place and have had similar experiences. I am not afraid of much, but for people who have the guts to accept the challenge of cave diving… well we all owe them a lot of gratitude for being explorers, adventurers and for pushing the boundaries of the technology some of us dive with.
In her own words Cave Diving “is sensational but it comes at a price. You have to be willing to put in the hard yards, to work hard, to shiver and, to suffer.”
The irony is, she probably summed up her final moments similarly to what she had previously written:
“I am cold and alone inside the cave. Sitting there at 6m (20ft) I’m slowly loosing all feeling. I am so cold that it hurts. I am desperately craving comfort………. I know that I have to stay. I know I am stuck in a self-imposed jail cell. I might be wretched and miserable but escape is not an option. The seconds of the clock count down. The more often I look down at the computer, the more frequently I am disappointed. Time, it seems, is standing still……
I try to console myself by remembering that the pain is only temporary….
“In my mind it (was) worth it, every second of it”
“in the heart of the Tiger’s Eye” by Agnes Milowka
Steve: you wrote this: “…well we all owe them a lot of gratitude for being explorers, adventurers and for pushing the boundaries of the technology some of us dive with”.
I disagree with you. I cannot owe any gratitude to divers who push boundaries, break rules and then die. I’m sick of divers glorifying recklessness, most of them are part of the statistics. To die so young like Ms. Milowka is not glory, this death could be prevented. The man who seemingly was in charge of the team at Tank Cave that day, has some questions to answer, as why he allowed Ms. Milowka to dive by herself in that part of the cave. Let’s face it: sometimes passion, daring becomes recklessness, self-confidence becomes arrogance. Ms. Milowka made a huge mistake going by herself to explore a part of the cave with many restrictions. Caves are unforgiving. She said on her website that she knew the risks and they were worthy. Was it worthy to push limits even if the price to pay was death?
C’mon, there is nothing romantic about being dead now, not more caves for her at 29.
Other cave divers who do follow the rules are enjoying cave diving somewhere.
Tragic, stupid death.
@Maria – The nature of diving is risky. At some point every aspect of diving was someone pushing the boundries and breaking rules. For the recreational diver who goes to Cozumel doing a 60 ft dive – well they can thank the diver who risked/lost their life 60-70 years ago.
The work that people like Agnes do allows recreational cave divers an opportunity to see these natural formations in a safe manner. Exploration is risky for anyone – just look at history books for those who explored North/South America hundreds of years ago.
If you would like, I can liken this to the Wright brothers and everyone who came after them to pioneer flying. They risked/lost their lives so the rest of us can have a relatively safe experience travelling the world via the sky.
As for the person leading the dive – every diver is taught to dive with buddies, and every diver knows that each person is responsible for their own actions. Short of tying her up (aka kidnapping) the dive leader has no control over what one of the divers wants to do, let alone a world-reknowned expert such as Agnes.
It’s a tragedy she died, the fault resides with her, but I don’t begrudge her in anyway. Nobody goes into cave diving without knowing the full ramifications when the shit hits the fan.
I only got to know Agnes briefly recently via FB and a few Messages in regards to a personal project I was going to do. Then she suddenly and sadly died. I remember her ’seminar’ at the previous Oztek so vividly as it was one of a few inspirations for my project. I am sad she is no longer with us, but I understand that she lived life very well with family and friends and achieved a lot, not just for herself, but for Diving too and that is what makes me so proud of her. At the moment, I am no longer continuing with that project …maybe later? Death can happen anytime, anyhow, anywhere and it can happen to the most cautious person. For me, Agnes will always shine the light forward for Cave Divers.