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Associated Press

An diver who was helping explore the narrow underwater caves that radiate from a well-known swimming hole in eastern New Mexico has died, authorities confirmed.
The initial investigation suggests 43-year-old Californian Shane Thompson’s death below the Blue Hole, a tourist destination in the community of Santa Rosa, was an accidental drowning.
Police Chief Jude Gallegos said Thompson was among 10 or so people from the ADM Exploration Foundation who were at Blue Hole for a multiple-day exploration. The group had been working on surveying the underwater cave system since 2013.
Thompson dove into Blue Hole on March 26 with another experienced diver, Mike Young, Gallegos said. They planned to have Young enter part of the cave system while Thompson stayed outside in a safety role.
Instead of staying outside, Thompson entered, Gallegos said. “Apparently something went horribly wrong, and he started to panic,” the chief said.
The divers were about 50 metres below the surface when the incident happened.
It still was unclear Thursday what went wrong. It could be weeks before autopsy results are available, the state Office of the Medical Investigator said.
No more exploration is planned of the underwater cave system at Blue Hole, said Curt Bowen, president of the exploration foundation.
“The cave system below is walled out. That means there is no cave passage left to explore,” he said in an email. “We mapped everything we could fit through, and it ended in a tight rock breakdown at a depth of 194 feet.”
Because of the extreme environment within the cave system, the city accepted the group’s recommendation that the cave system remain off-limits to the public.
In New Mexico, the Blue Hole has been an attraction for centuries. Legend has it that outlaw Billy the Kid would take a dip at the swimming hole before heading into Santa Rosa.
The artesian spring, tucked into a rock outcropping, pumps out about 12,000 litres per minute. The steady flow results in crystal clear conditions that have attracted divers from around the world.
The caves have been sealed off since 1976, when two divers in training died after getting separated from their classmates. New Mexico State Police divers quickly found one of the bodies, but it took several weeks to find the other. In the process, police divers made a crude map of some of the unexplored passages.


Diver drowns exploring mysterious underwater caves of New Mexico’s Blue Hole

This June 6, 2015 file photo shows divers at Blue Hole in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, where 43-year-old Shane Thompson drowned on Saturday. Photo: AP

FILE - This June 6, 2015 file photo shows a boy leaping into the water at Blue Hole State Park in Santa Rosa, N.M. An eastern New Mexico police chief says an experienced California diver has died in an underwater cave beneath a swimming hole. Santa Rosa Police Chief Jude Gallegos says the initial investigation suggests 43-year-old Shane Thompson's death Saturday below the Blue Hole was an accidental drowning.(AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)

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