Just off the coast of Croatia is a small island called Solta. The island is a haven for vineyards, olive groves, and tourism, but is also know for Poganico Bay, a small inlet known for its legends of pirates and sea monsters. In the bay is a deceptively small cave: the entrance is only two metres wide, but fifteen metres past the entrance, it splits into two underwater labyrinths, one shallow and one 57m deep. It’s a popular destination for cave diving, though it can be perilous as the cave is filled with fine silt that can obscure the water when disturbed.
On a gorgeous September evening in 2002, a group of divers prepared to explore the cave. They all descended together, except for one, a diver referred to only as MK. MK watched the sun set, and then descended alone to the cave entrance nine metres below the surface.
Just over an hour later, the rest of MK’s group resurfaced. There was no sign of their missing diver. They searched the area for an hour, but to no avail. At half past midnight, three hours after MK had descended, the rest of the group contacted the emergency services.
Once on scene, two police divers entered the cave with a lifeline. Shortly afterwards, the line went slack and one of the police divers disappeared into the murk. The remaining police diver rushed to the surface without stopping to decompress, and suffered from severe decompression sickness as a result.
Twenty-four hours after the initial search, a second search commenced. The missing police diver’s body was found at a depth of 24m and recovered. The search party pressed on, and eventually found MK’s body at a depth of 54m – almost as deep as the cave went.
The discovery of MK’s body only raised more questions. He was found without his diving mask, the regulator out of his mouth, and a knife buried in his chest.
A homicide investigation was launched. All of MK’s gear was checked for signs of tampering. The boat was searched thoroughly, and investigators discovered a reddish stain on the deck. Blood samples were taken from the rest of the diving group, and they all underwent polygraph tests. Every member of the group passed, but two members reacted suspiciously to the words ‘knife’ and ‘blood’.
Despite some evidence pointing towards suspicious circumstances, the final verdict ruled MK’s death as a suicide. MK’s dive computer showed 37 previous dives and no evidence of tampering. His last recorded movements suggested he was looking for an exit but could not find one. Given the timeline of events, there was no time for another member of the group to slip away and attack him in the cave.
Other than the stab wound, MK was fit and healthy, with no signs of accident or injury. His blood alcohol level was 0.114, which can exacerbate the effects of nitrogen narcosis.
Nitrogen narcosis is a reversible alteration in consciousness when diving at depth. It’s sometimes called the ‘raptures of the deep’ or the ‘Martini effect’, and is usually only noticeable below a depth of 30m (98ft). Certain gases such as nitrogen have an anaesthetic effect at high pressure, usually resulting in odd behaviour. Nitrogen narcosis becomes more hazardous the deeper you go, and to dive below 40m requires specialist training with helium-containing gas mixtures to reduce the anaesthetic effects. At those depths, narcosis and oxygen toxicity become critical risk factors. It’s impossible to develop a tolerance to nitrogen narcosis and susceptibility varies between divers and from dive to dive, but the effects can be completely reversed in a couple of minutes by ascending to shallower depths.
The final verdict suggested MK chose the deeper route into the labyrinth with only 15 litres of oxygen, enough for an hour. Once in the murk, he was unable to see anything and lost track of time. At the 25-minute mark of the dive, MK was still in the labyrinth, leaving not enough time for a safe ascent with decompression stops. Suffering from narcosis and faced with the painful depth of drowning, investigators believe MK opted for a quicker death and stabbed himself in the chest.
Writing Werewolf 