British cave diver found dead in French cave system

Andrew Rice, a 43-year-old experienced cave diver from Stroud, Gloucestershire, was found dead inside the Gouffre de Saint-Sauveur cave system at Calès in southwestern France on September 20, two days after he failed to resurface from a dive. Rice entered the Saint-Sauveur resurgence at around 3:30pm local time on September 18 as part of a group of eight experienced British cave divers. When he did not return to the surface by about 8pm, his companions alerted emergency services, prompting a major search involving firefighters, gendarmes, specialist cave divers and members of the French Spéléo Secours rescue organisation. A larger operation with additional equipment and helicopter-delivered teams, including the Gendarmerie's marine brigade from Marseille, began the following day. His body was discovered underwater at a depth reported at between roughly 270ft and 289ft. Reports state that the diver's body was caught in or entangled in a guideline that divers unfurl to navigate back out of submerged cave systems.