Posted by 
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.