San Diego scuba diver dies in New Mexico underwater cave accident

A veteran San Diego scuba diving instructor died over the weekend while exploring underwater caves in New Mexico that had been sealed for 40 years.

Shane Thompson, 43, was entombed overnight in a cavern underneath the Blue Hole, after being trapped in an accident Saturday, according to the Guadalupe County Communicator. The small lake near Santa Rosa, N.M., is a popular site for divers because of its crystal-clear waters.

Thompson was one of several elite divers who were on an excursion with the nonprofit ADM Exploration Foundation, the newspaper reported Thursday. The group had received rare permission to enter the caves, which had been closed in 1976 after two scuba divers from Oklahoma got lost inside the labyrinth and died.

Thompson and the team were using “rebreather” equipment that recycles divers’ breath with oxygen and allows explorers to stay underwater for long periods of time.

Diver Mike Young told investigators that he and Thompson were looking for passageways when he ventured through a narrow obstruction into a small chamber and Thompson followed.

“Shane was supposed to stay out, and for whatever reason entered the cave,” Santa Rosa Police Officer Mike Gauna told the newspaper. “At that point, that’s where everything went terribly wrong.”

Young tried to exit the area but both divers became wedged in a narrow passage. After freeing themselves, Thompson took a wrong turn and became trapped in what was described as an unmapped area that led nowhere, Gauna said.

By the time Young found Thompson, he had died. His body was recovered the next day.

Thompson was a well-known scuba diving instructor for Advanced Underwater Training in San Diego. According to his bio, he had more than 20 years of experience working as a deep technical rebreather diver who had first worked as a diving instructor in the Navy.

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Twitter: @Debbi_Baker

Baker writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune