Specialists called in to recover diver

A crew of specialised cave divers are expected to begin trying to recover the body of a Polish man from more than 50 metres below ground in South Galway on Thursday.

The body of experienced cave diver Artur Kozlowski (34) was found in the submerged cave at Pollonora, north of Gort, on Tuesday evening.
Due to the difficult terrain however, gardaí and the voluntary Irish Cave Rescue Organisation (ICRO) were unable to recover the body and have requested the help of expert cave rescuers from the UK.
Mr Kozlowski,  originally from Poland, went diving in the permanently dark and water-filled cave on Monday. According to the ICRO, Mr Kozlowski was fully equipped with all the necessary diving equipment and had sufficient compressed air and mixed gases with him.
“Following correct cave exploration protocol, the cave diver informed two colleagues of his planned cave-diving trip and when he did not return at the expected time, the ICRO was immediately alerted,” said a spokesperson for the group.
An experienced cave-diver performed a two-hour search of the cave on Monday night at 11pm but was unable to find Mr Kozlowski.
“This experienced cave diver is not a member of the Irish Coast Guard or of the ICRO but was requested on behalf of the ICRO because of his expertise, experience and excellent knowledge of this particular cave,” a spokesperson for the ICRO stated.
Gort gardaí, who were the lead agency involved in the search, requested the help of the ICRO on Monday in an effort to find Mr Kozlowski. At 6.40pm on Tuesday, Mr Kozlowski’s body was located at the known limit of the cave, at a distance of 850 metres from the entrance and at a depth underwater of 52 metres.
“The ICRO did tremendous work to locate the body in the extreme circumstances that it lies. But the recovery operation is outside their area of expertise so we had to look in a different area for that,” said Superintendent Patrick Murray of Gort Garda District.
“The deceased man was exploring in an area which is at the extreme limits at which it is safe to explore this type of cave and his body is located in a vertical area nearly 60 metres below the surface accessed by approx 900 metres of horizontal channels and the entire area is underwater with no visibility so from that point of view, it is a difficult and dangerous recovery for which expertise is required,” he continued.
Three specialist divers were due to arrive in Gort on Wednesday evening and are expected to begin a recovery dive on Thursday morning.
“These cave diving experts, amongst the best in Europe, have been requested to perform the recovery dive because of their extensive experience and training in this specialist diving environment.
“The start-time of the ­recovery dive has not yet been confirmed but is ­expected to last for several hours on Thursday afternoon,” the ICRO spokesperson stated.
Gardaí in Gort confirmed that a post mortem will be carried out on Mr Kozlowski’s body when recovered but said they are treating his death as a tragic accident.
“We have a family liaison officer engaging with the family, updating them about the recovery of their loved one.
“In addition, when we bring the body to the surface, an investigation will start into the cause of death.
“That said, there is nothing suspicious about this, it appears to be a tragic accident that occurred when Mr Kozlowski was exploring this set of caves,” concluded Superintendent Murray.