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She Was Certified For One Day, Dead the Next | 2026's Cave Diving Gone Wrong

On The Verge

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Two divers died in 2026, and only one of those deaths can be explained.

In August, a professional diver was found floating off Malta without his tank or his buoyancy jacket. Thirty metres below him was a dead bluefin tuna with his equipment attached to its mouth. Investigators are still trying to work out what happened in the forty minutes nobody can account for.

In February, a 23 year old finished her Open Water course and went straight into Advanced training the next morning. She died on the seabed off Puerto Madryn while her boyfriend, certified for one day himself, gave her his own regulator and tried to bring her up. Five months later, her instructor was charged.

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#Diving #ScubaDiving #TrueStory #Documentary

20 Comments

@mackenonem 2 weeks ago

"You find yourself in the ocean, 20 foot wave, I'm assuming off the coast of South Africa, coming up against a full grown 800 pound tuna with his 20 or 30 friends, you lose that battle, you lose that battle 9 times out of 10. " -The Other Guys 😂

@raymondlin8728 2 weeks ago

Life hack: Avoid activities than includes bringing your own oxygen..ie diving, mountain climbing, space walks, etc

@awkward_diver 2 weeks ago

Now I agree that they were new divers with little experience, but they are certified divers. We teach procedures in Open Water (first certification) for when we get separated from a dive buddy or group, look for one minute and then surface. A diver panicking is not something you can account for. And, for clarification, Advanced Open Water is just a sampler of 5 specialties, each one dive. To go from OW to a AOW course isn't uncommon, but it's not a huge jump in learning or skills. This event is tragic, but not very common, but it does happen.

@Valypeto 2 weeks ago

Reminder: eating canned tuna can be lethal because tuna will have its revenge.

@freeportkid 2 weeks ago

I have watched a panicked diver, almost drown themselves on the surface. A place where they were completely safe. All they had to do was sit up and breath and they still almost got themselves killed. Had I not jumped in and grabbed a hold of them to flip them over they would’ve died.

@jeffersonlee2582 2 weeks ago

Excellent stories, thanks

@blueiturriria3291 2 weeks ago

For safety, why do they not have two divers go down together? In diving, it was taught to dive with a buddy.

@tamisullivan8548 2 weeks ago

Sophia😔sad story. You explain well👍like the pics/clips help to visualize.

@_gelon 2 weeks ago

Life hack: Just get certified the next day.

@ThatDoesntWorkForMeBrother 2 weeks ago

First in the cave
(Don’t worry, I’m standing right by the entrance).

@RylandBryant-u9o 9 days ago

Poorly told story (second one about recently certified divers). Title says Cave diving gone wrong, but they weren't diving in a cave. The random diving clips do not contribute to the story - when talking about a diver's bouyancy control device, you show a picture of a personal flotation device - which is not used in scuba diving. There is no information about what the instructor is accused of doing wrong. There is a mention of leaving diver's unattended on the bottom, but as certified diver's this is OK (maybe not ideal) but surely not negligent. You say a diver should never take a regulator out of their mouth which is untrue - if you are switching to a working air source, this is required and taught in their OW class. This content shows a complete lack of understanding of scuba diving, accident investigation, or even basic story telling.

@mickyp3357 7 days ago

I have just recently completed my PADI open water training course. Although you are reliant on your instructor for guidance, you always dive with a buddy and together are solely responsible for your own safety. Including having an adequate level of clear visual observation both on descent and ascent.
Diving is very safe, ignoring your training and level of ability isn't!