Death at "The Crack"

[divers4life]

Since this made it to TDS I wanted to post this here first.

There was a cave diving fatality on Saturday, July 14. Elizabeth Anna Halbach passed away during a dive at a dive site known as The Crack. I am Liz's husband and was with her at the time.

My wife and I were very active in and committed to the cave diving community, and we both know how important it is for everyone to know what happened. We also both know how out of hand speculation can get. I have a lot of faith and trust in the cave diving community, so in exchange for your promise to not speculate about what occurred, I personally promise to the entire cave diving community that I will publish all of the details of the event here, once we know what happened.

This was one of those events that has no explanations, no reasons for occurring. All rules were followed, everything was within what are currently believed to be the limits. We, her family, need to know exactly what happened, so we are going out of our way, well above standard procedure, to determine the cause.

Once arrangements have been made, I or one of our friends will be posting details here. A big thank you to everyone who has provided me and our family support to us so far, I know we are in your hearts and prayers.

Sincerely,
Timothy Halbach

[aw]

I'm very sorry for your loss.

[Gary]

My deepest condolences. I'm so sorry for you and your family.

Gary

[Cave Ranger]

I'm not familiar with this cave site but regardless I am very, very sorry for your loss Tim.

[Moonfuzzy]

Tim - I am so sorry to hear about this. I only met the two of you face to face once, but I thought you were both very nice people. I hope that you are holding up well, and not letting the process of discovering what happened tear you apart. Please give my condolences to Liz's mother as well.

Kathleen Seide

[MORGAN]

Our deepest condolences. We're very sorry to hear of your loss.

Mike & Tracy

[andrebasso]

Tim, I think I met you at CE a few years ago. I am so sorry for your loss. You and your family are in our prayers.

[Jay]

I am very sorry for your loss Tim and you have mydeepest condolences.

Jay

This past week I was asked to deliver a scooter from Ginnie Springs to Panama City Beach. It wasn't just the shipping charges they were trying to avoid; nobody wants to trust their scooter to the gorillas at UPS.

I said I would be happy to - there's no way I could say no because last year a couple that I had never met had done the same thing for me, delivering my scooter from Gainesville to Marianna.

It turns out that couple was Liz and Tim. Tim, you have my deepest sympathies, and I will always remember the tremendous favor the two of you did for me.

[CaptainSpeleo]

Tim:

I'm very sorry for your loss. I can relate to what you're going through emotionally right now. Although it wasn't cave diving-related, I lost my wife suddenly and unexpectedly last July 16th. Don't let the "what if's" fill your mind.

Frank