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U.S. NEWSFriday 1 April 2016

Exploration of underwater New Mexico cave turns deadly

This photo shows divers at Blue Hole State Park in Santa Rosa, N.M. An eastern New Mexico police Hole on March 26 with an- through, and it ended in a
chief says an experienced California diver has died in an underwater cave beneath a swimming other experienced diver, tight rock breakdown at a
hole. Santa Rosa Police Chief Jude Gallegos says the initial investigation suggests 43-year-old Mike Young, Gallegos said. depth of 194 feet.”
Shane Thompson’s death Saturday below the Blue Hole was an accidental drowning. They planned to have Because of the extreme
Young enter part of the environment within the
(AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan) cave system while Thomp- cave system, the city ac-
son stayed outside in a cepted the group’s rec-
SUSAN BRYAN died, authorities confirmed said Thompson was among safety role. ommendation that the
PAUL DAVENPORT Thursday. 10 or so people from the Instead of staying outside, cave system remain off-
Associated Press The initial investigation sug- ADM Exploration Founda- Thompson entered, Gal- limits to the public. The div-
An experienced California gests 43-year-old Shane tion who were at Blue Hole legos said. “Apparently ers covered and secured
diver who was helping with Thompson’s death below for a multiple-day explora- something went horribly the grate at the bottom of
the exploration of the nar- the Blue Hole, a tourist des- tion. The group had been wrong, and he started to the bell-shaped swimming
row underwater passage- tination in the community working on surveying the panic,” the chief said. hole to prevent untrained
ways that radiate from a of Santa Rosa, was an ac- underwater cave system The divers were about 160 divers from gaining access.
well-known swimming hole cidental drowning. since 2013. feet below the surface Family members said Thurs-
in eastern New Mexico has Police Chief Jude Gallegos Thompson dove into Blue when the incident hap- day they were struggling
pened. with Thompson’s death,
It still was unclear Thursday but they acknowledged
what went wrong. It could that diving was what he
be weeks before autopsy loved to do and that he
results are available, the had earned numerous
state Office of the Medical certifications during his life-
Investigator said. time.
No more exploration is A Navy veteran, Thompson
planned of the underwater began diving at a young
cave system at Blue Hole, age while growing up in
said Curt Bowen, president the Florida Keys. After earn-
of the exploration founda- ing his first certification, he
tion. went to work for an under-
“The cave system below water construction com-
is walled out. That means pany and later started nu-
there is no cave passage merous diving businesses
left to explore,” he said in that focused on everything
an email. “We mapped from boat maintenance to
everything we could fit salvage work and training.
Last year, Thompson redis-
Family: covered the wreckage of
the B-36 “Peacemaker”
American held in the Emirates over faked loans freed bomber that had crashed
in 1952 near Mission Beach.
JON GAMBRELL on the circumstances of areas of the UAE, a seven- and then used it to make A video posted by Thomp-
Associated Press his release. The state-run emirate federation on the the loans. son’s San Diego-based Ad-
DUBAI, United Arab Emir- WAM news agency, which Arabian Peninsula, his fam- While liberal compared to vanced Underwater Train-
ates (AP) — A U.S. citizen never reported his initial ily said. other nations in the Gulf, ing business shows his flash-
detained in the United detention, carried no word Novak previously worked the UAE considers default- light scanning the engines
Arab Emirates over faked of his release early Friday. as a school teacher in Abu ing on loans a criminal of- and other corroded pieces
loans totaling nearly The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi from 2009 to 2012 fense and incarcerates of the plane as he makes
$90,000 drawn in his name Dhabi did not immediately before taking a teaching debtors to stop them from his way through the dark-
has been freed and left the respond to a request for job in Thailand and later fleeing the country and to ness more than 250 feet
country for his teaching job comment. Cairo, his family said. make them settle their ac- below the surface.
in Egypt, his family said ear- Novak was stopped March He lost his U.S. passport counts. In New Mexico, the Blue
ly Friday. 12 at Abu Dhabi Interna- in Abu Dhabi, the Emirati As oil prices have dipped Hole has been an attrac-
Matthew Novak, 31, a na- tional Airport during a lay- capital, in 2010 and report- in recent months, some for- tion for centuries. Legend
tive of Kansas City, Missouri, over while traveling from ed it missing to both the U.S. eign workers in the region has it that outlaw Billy the
arrived in Cairo after being Thailand to Egypt, his family Embassy and local police have found themselves out Kid would take a dip at
freed following his week- earlier said. there before receiving a re- of a job and suddenly un- the swimming hole before
slong detention in the Emir- Authorities arrested him placement, his family said. able to make payments, heading into Santa Rosa.
ates, his family said. over seven loans taken His family believes some- effectively trapped over- The artesian spring, tucked
They declined to comment out in his name in several one stole Novak’s passport seas. into a rock outcropping,