Overview
- Three experienced tech divers entered the water on Saturday and about 30 minutes into the dive at roughly 40 meters the missing 63-year-old’s torchlight moved away and his two companions surfaced and alerted emergency services.
- A large multi-agency operation that used about 50 helpers, multiple boats, rescue divers, sonar, underwater drones and two helicopters searched for hours before officers and the incident commander suspended the intensive search around 15:00 without finding him.
- Rescue teams could not safely reach the depth where the man was last seen because standard rescue divers are limited to 20 meters and only reach 30 meters with special permission, while visibility at 40 meters is typically only one to four meters.
- The three friends were described as experienced technical divers who had planned dives to about 60 meters that day, which places their intended profile beyond normal compressed-air recreational limits of 40 meters.
- Police will decide whether to resume recovery efforts with specialised deep-recovery equipment the next day and the case highlights the danger of the Allmannshauser Steilwand, a known hotspot with underwater walls exceeding 70 meters and a history of fatal accidents.