A renowned underwater cave explorer died last week during an expedition into the Texas cave where he set a world record a decade earlier.
The body of Brett Hemphill, 56, was brought to the surface from Phantom Springs Cave in Toyahvale on Sunday, four days after he disappeared into the treacherous cavern, his company Karst Underwater Research announced.
Hemphill and company director Andy Pitkin entered the cave around 10:45 p.m. Wednesday to explore a potential new path in the complex underwater system that begins 450 feet below surface level.
The couple separated shortly after the trip and Hemphill never reappeared.
He was last seen on video tying a leader to a rock 570 feet down, KUR said.
Brett Hemphill died last week during an underwater expedition inside Phantom Springs Cave in Texas. Facebook Hemphill was with Karst Underwater Research director Andy Pitkin when he disappeared. Facebook.
Hemphill’s own colleagues at KUR found and recovered Hemphill’s body four days later from the cave system, although it remains unclear how the record-breaking diver lost his life.
“When we have all the information and analyze it, we will issue a statement regarding the incident that will answer everyone’s questions,” Pitkin said in a statement. “Until then, please allow us some time to come to terms with your loss as we have been focused on recovery until now.”
Hemphill was last seen 570 feet below sea level in the cave when he was separated from Pitkin.ADM Exploration Foundation
Hemphill and the KUR team set the country’s deep underwater cave record in 2008 after reaching a depth of 407 feet at Florida’s Weeki Wachee Springs, subsequently discovering it to be the deepest known naturally formed spring in the country, according to the biography of your company.
Hemphill broke his own record just five years later while exploring Phantom Springs. He reached just over 465 feet below the surface and 8,000 feet back into the cave, also revealing it to be the deepest underwater cave yet measured in the US.
The KUR president and his team have been working within the intricate cave system since its discovery, along with the Department of Marine Biology at Texas A&M University, to investigate the natural species of Phantom Spring.
Hemphill has set the country’s record for deep underwater caves on two separate occasions.Facebook
During one of the explorations, they discovered that there was an even deeper sector of the underwater cave.
Hemphill served as president of Florida-based KUR, a renowned non-profit cave diving organization that specialized in exploring, mapping and documenting deep underwater systems in Florida, Texas and Missouri, as well as overseas in the Bahamas, Dominican Republic and Mexico.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn