Clara Ribeiro said emergency services found the body of a 43-year-old British cave diver in the Gouffre de Saint-Sauveur in south-western France on 20 September. The discovery ended a two-day search after the diver failed to surface from the cave system near Calès.
Ribeiro, the public prosecutor for the Lot department, said the body was located at a depth of 88m. Specialist cave-rescue divers from Spéléo Secours Français and the Gendarmerie Nationale worked with local fire and rescue services in the search.
Calès entry and alarm
The diver entered the system near Calès at 3.30 on Friday afternoon, 18 September, with seven other divers. The surface team raised the alarm at 8pm after he did not return as scheduled.
Authorities said he had entered with enough breathing gas to last eight hours, and a staged safety cylinder near the entrance was found unused. The Lot Prefecture activated the ORSEC framework for subterranean rescue as teams began the search.
Search inside the Gouffre
Initial underwater probes were briefly suspended for safety before expanding the following morning. Teams examined deep chambers and known air-pockets, but found no trace of the diver at first.
Operations resumed at first light on 20 September as deep-penetration teams pushed further into the flooded galleries. The body was found later that evening in a narrow passage, entwined in the guideline where suspended silt had reduced visibility.
Gramat investigation
The recovery could not be completed immediately because of the depth, technical constraints and environmental hazards. The local Gramat gendarmerie has been assigned to lead the investigation into the precise cause of death.
Judicial authorities said it had not yet been determined whether equipment failure, physical entrapment or a medical emergency under water led to the death. The open question now is what happened underwater before the diver became trapped 88m down.
