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Last Updated: June 17, 2011

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Death diver Agnes Milowka 'couldn't wait to get underground'

By Katherine Firkin

From: Herald Sun, AdelaideNow

March 01, 2011 5:47AM

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Free Spirit

Internationally-renowned cave diver Agnes Milowka made this video before she drowned yesterday near Mt Gambier.

Ms Milowka worked as a stunt diver on the James Cameron film Sanctum. Photo: Neil Vincent Source: Supplied

Agnes Mikowla died in one of Australia's biggest network of underground caves. Picture: Supplied Source: Supplied

Milowka was stunt diver for Hollywood film

"No one wants to die but there are risks"

Map: Inside the Tank Cave labyrinth

A MELBOURNE cave diver who died yesterday was a passionate expert who "couldn't wait to get underground".

Every time Agnes Milowka, 29, descended into the dark, subterranean world of cave diving, she knew there was a chance she may never return to the surface.

But she said the chance to experience the majestic beauty of submerged caves was worth the risk.

"No one wants to die but there are risks involved in cave diving," she said in a prophetic blog online.

"To me, the risks are worth it. Diving and the need to explore is not just a hobby for me. It is not just something I love doing. It is a way of life. It is who I am.

"As my mum loves to say 'Where the devil can't go, he sends you.' I'm starting to think there might be some truth to that."

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The Polish-born 29-year-old recently worked as a stunt diver for James Cameron's new blockbuster Sanctum 3D, which is showing across Australia.

The movie centres on a team of cave divers pushed to the limit when an expedition goes tragically wrong.

Ms Milowka's passion to explore some of the last undiscovered places on Earth took her to exotic underwater caves from Tasmania to the Bahamas.

It also led her to her death at Tank Cave, near Mt Gambier, on Sunday afternoon.

Her distraught parents arrived at the site yesterday afternoon as a Cave Divers Association team re-entered the 7km cave to find a path to her body. Police warned it may be up to five days before they can retrieve her.

Family and friends across the globe remembered her as a pioneer in her field.

"She had a huge series of accomplishments and a wonderfully enthusiastic attitude," fellow diver Barbara AmEnde said.

US diver Cris Jones said: "She had a passion for cave diving that is difficult to explain to those that do not practise the sport."

Warwick McDonald, former national director of the Cave Divers Association, said Ms Milowka dived at Tank Cave "many, many times".

On Friday she tweeted her excitement at the coming diving expedition: "Another w-end of cave diving in Mt Gambier . . . fabulous! Can't wait to get underground."

In December Ms Milowka wrote an article describing Tank Cave as "a real gem".

"The cave is stunning . . . there is no flow to fight and the water is crystal clear - you can't go wrong really."

Agnes Milowka knew the dangers of cave diving

Agnes Milowka during one of her many cave dives, as pictured by fellow diver Wes Skiles in an image from her website http://www.agnesmilowka.com/

Source: Supplied

Difficult recovery for emergency crews

Authorities continue assessing whether it is safe to recover her body, with specialist divers expected to be needed for the operation.

Tank Cave has been described by dive experts as "the best cave in the southern hemisphere".

The cave is on private property on the Princes Highway, halfway between Millicent and Mt Gambier, near Tantanoola, and is renowned for being a "complicated underground cavern".

Police say they will prepare a report for the Coroner.

Ms Milowka's death is the second cave diving death in the south-east in the past year, but only the second time in 30 years someone has died in the Mt Gambier systems.

Melbourne doctor Robert McAlister, 51, died while diving in a sinkhole near Mt Schank on March 13, 2010.

His co-diver was gradually surfacing to avoid the bends when he saw Dr McAlister, an experienced diver, at a great depth below him, authorities said.

The co-diver did not have enough air to return to Dr McAlister. He came to the surface and raised the alarm, but when water operations police found Dr McAlister he was dead and was tangled in the cave's guide ropes.

There have been few fatalities despite the dangers of the sporting subculture, partly because so few people are prepared to take the necessary risks.

A recent report by Adelaide Now shows there are just 800 accredited divers prepared to risk their lives to reach a beautiful underground world, as alien as space.

The sport combines scuba diving and cave exploration, with South Australia’s south east considered to have some of the best cave diving sites in the world.

Divers from as far as Russia come to visit the estimate 330 known caverns, sink holes and caves such as The Black Hole, The Shaft and Death Cave.

Tank Cave is considered one of the most spectacular, with its a labyrinth of connected passages.

The new James Cameron 3D blockbuster Sanctum, which has brought the claustrophobic sport into the spotlight, was partly shot around Mt Gambier sites and was inspired by true events in the Nullabor Plains cave systems which left a crew of 15 battling to survive when a cyclone floods the cave.

with Amy Noonan and Lechelle Earl, Adelaide Now

Cave diving in tank cave near Millicent, South Australia

Tank Cave D Tunnel from Richard Harris on Vimeo.

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