Thailand: two Russian cave divers died

Last Sunday, December 21, two experienced cave divers from Russia died in Chiewlan Reservoir located in Surat Thani. The men had lived on Phuket Island for a long time and were very familiar with the local diving sites.

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The victims were 46-year-old Dmitry Dokuchaev and 49-year-old Alexander Solomatin. On the tragic day, they hired a boat at the Khiewlan Municipal Pier and together with two other men set out to dive at the site known as Tiger Cave.

From the little information available, Dokuchaev died during the dive, while Solomatin escaped from the cave onto a boat, from where he was then taken to hospital. Doctors at Surat Thani General Hospital quickly decided to transfer the casualty to a decompression chamber at Vachira Phuket Hospital. Unfortunately, the casualty died during the transport arrangements.

Information coming from the local diving community seems to suggest that Dmitry Dokuchaev died as a result of oxygen poisoning, resulting from a malfunction or misuse of the rebreather. In the case of Solomatin, on the other hand, the most likely cause of death appears to be a lung embolism.

Of course, this is only speculation based on the little information that has been released by the hospital spokesman. To know the exact circumstances of the deaths of both men we will have to wait for the results of the autopsy.

Source: thephuketnews.com, ria.ru Photo: flickr.com/joanet