Melbourne cave diver Agnes Milowka, age 2= 9, died on February 27, 2011 while exploring the extensive labyrinth of = caves known as Tank Caves, in Mt. Gambier. While the sad event played out much like an incident out of the recen= t James Cameron scuba movi= e ‘Sanctum’, Milowka actually worked as a stunt diver fo= r the two female characters in the same movie.
True to the character she played in the m= ovie, Agnes was a passionate cave diver and explorer who=C2=A0 lived to = go where no man had before. Captivated by the sheer mystery of unknown p= assages and where they led to, cave exploration became more than just an= obsession for her. Exploring, mapping new cave systems, pushing the bou= ndaries and bringing back images from her adventures to share with the w= orld what very few would ever see with their own eyes, was the center of= her existence. Having dived Florida’s cave country and the Bahama= s extensively, Agnes turned to her own country and set her sights on Tank= a> Cave, a maze-like system with more than seven kilometers of underwate= r passages, located near Mt. Gambier in South A= ustralia which is famous for it’s sinkholes,=C2=A0 underground= waterways, caves and caverns.
A highly experienced cave diver, Milowka = was said to have dived the Tank Caves many times before. She had previou= sly written about the Tank Cave system for Cave Diving Down Under and described it as the =E2=80=9Ccrowning jewel=E2=80=9D of the caves= in the region. She went on to write-
=E2=80=9CThe cave is stunning, it = is relatively shallow (a max depth around 20m), there is no flow to figh= t and the water is crystal clear – you can’t go wrong really= .=E2=80=9D
But she also wrote that the system was co= mplicated, =E2=80=9Clike a spider web gone wild=E2=80=9D and meant diver= s must learn the cave carefully to navigate tight restrictions and often= zero visibility. She wrote of a new passage in Tank Cave she had discov= ered with a colleague, and described numerous “tight bits” w= here some divers may have had to take off their tanks to squeeze through= . She wrote-
“The walls and roof to begin= with are quite soft and squishy, which means that large chunks of the r= oof rain down on you as you exhale and the visibility is quickly reduced= to zero,”
“This is not only a hazard w= hen coming back out through the small restrictions but it also means tha= t this section of the cave is particularly fragile and needs to be handl= ed with a bit of tender love and care.”
On the day of her tragic accident, no one= really knows what went wrong. She was believed to have left her buddy a= nd never returned. Her fellow divers reported her missing and one of the= m was able to identify the area within the cave system where she was las= t seen.=C2=A0 Her body was found overnight about 600 meters inside the c= ave system.
On her website, Agnes says she is well aw= are of the risks she faces everytime she submerged into the dark subterr= anean world of cave diving.=C2=A0 And in a recent interview with a Polis= h radio station when asked if the death of a fellow diver scared her a l= ittle, she replied-
” I am not scared of diving. An= yone at any point can pass away. So you have to live your life as if tom= orrow could be your last day. I love diving, I am passionate about it an= d I don’t think anything will stop me from doing it. Unfortunately= there are risks; in every extreme sport there are dangers. It doesnR= 17;t always work out but you do everything possible to not only do that = one dive, but to keep on diving over many years. That’s what it= 217;s all about after all, longevity. You have to dive safely but live a= s if everyday is going to be your last.”
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