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Last Updated: June 17, 2011

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Weather: Melbourne 8°C - 15°C . Few showers.

Victorian cave diver Agnes Milowka dies at Tank Cave, Mt Gambier

Katherine Firkin, Matt Schulz

From: Herald Sun, AdelaideNow

February 28, 2011 9:51AM

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Cave diver tragedy

Expert diver Agnes Milowka says she knew her chosen sport was potentially deadly, but says her adventurous spirit drove her to the extremes.

Relatives at the scene near Millicent where emergency crews worked through the night in their attempts to recover Agnes Milowka's body from the Tank Cave underground system. Picture: Brenton Edwards Source: AdelaideNow

Divers and emergency services workers gather at Tank Cave. Picture: Lechelle Earl Source: The Advertiser

Agnes Milowka's death has come as a shock to the small cave diving community. Source: AdelaideNow

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Agnes Milowka, who died in one of Australia's biggest network of underground caves, was a passionate advocate of the dangerous sport. Picture: Agnes Mikowla website Source: Supplied

UPDATE 6.42pm: A MELBOURNE cave diver who died yesterday was a passionate expert who "couldn't wait to get underground".

The international diving community is mourning the drowning death of one of its brightest female stars.

The body of Agnes Milowka, 29, was found today, after she went missing from a group of divers in Tank Cave, South Australia yesterday afternoon.

The world-class diver and keen underwater photographer was reported missing about 1.45pm yesterday, before the death was confirmed by authorities today.

Ms Milowka performed as a stunt diver in James Cameron's action thriller Sanctum and her death has shocked friends and divers around the world.

South Australian Superintendent Trevor Twilley said her body had been found about 500m from the cave entrance after divers worked through the night in pitch black conditions.

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"Members of Cave Diving Australia will dive first to ensure the route through the twisting water-filled chambers to the body is clear," he said today.

He said the divers would take a video of the route before police divers were given the all-clear to enter the water and retrieve the body.

He said the dive was expected take between three and four hours.

If a dive was considered unsafe, police said they would consider tunnelling from the surface to reach the body.

Warwick McDonald, former national director of the Cave Divers' Association, said the woman had dived at Tank Cave “many, many times" and was among a group of other Victorian divers visiting for the weekend.

Ms Milowka was well-known in cave-diving circles and is highly experienced, describing her interests on her website as "exploration, adventure and scuba diving".

The Polish born expert HAS explored caves from Tasmania to the Bahamas, gained qualifications in maritime archeology and also worked for National Geographic and the Discovery Channel, before acting as a stunt diver for two female characters in Sanctum.

On Friday, Ms Milowka tweeted her excitement at the upcoming South Australian diving expedition.

“Another w-end of cave diving in Mt Gambier ... fabulous! Can't wait to get underground,'' she wrote.

Tank Cave stretches at least 7km underground near Mt Gambier, in South Australia's southeast.

Ms Milowka wrote about the Tank Cave system in December, describing it as the “crowning jewel” of the caves in the region, writing for Cave Diving Down Under.

At the time she believed the cave was relatively safe: “The cave is stunning, it is relatively shallow (a max depth around 20m), there is no flow to fight and the water is crystal clear - you can't go wrong really.”

But she also wrote that the system was complicated, “like a spider web gone wild” and meant divers must learn the cave carefully to navigate tight restrictions and often zero visibility.

The adventurous diver wrote she had already discovered another side passage at least 300m long in the system on a previous visit, and hoped to discover more on visits such as her tragic final one.

She said that passage was a small hole, too tiny for her buddy, but she squeezed through for a brief foray into the darkness before turning back.

On her website, Ms Milowka says she is well aware of the risks she faces everytime she submerged into the dark subterranean world of cave diving."It would be difficult to claim that caves are completely safe" she says.

"Going into caves in general carries a certain amount of risk, and then if you add water and submerge the cave then obviously the risks increase."

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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Comments on this story

CDAA Cave diving Instructor of Christies Beach Posted at 7:37 AM March 01, 2011

we do what we do because we have a passion for it, if its not for you then dont do it,find another hobby, if i die doing what i love and am passionate about ill dye happy RIP AG ps, John from colac my friend you are the idiot, and i hope your knitting classes are going well!!!!

Pradeep Ahuja of elsternwick Posted at 3:18 PM February 28, 2011

Gorgeous Video but very sad on her death.

bob meadows of Brisbane Posted at 3:11 PM February 28, 2011

A high risk undertaking - why do otherwise sane, intelligent people undertake such hazardous, highly dangerous activities? Aren't there enough activities above ground to provide the adrenalin rush?

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