A man was diving in the Poganica bay cave when something went horrifyingly wrong.
This is his story.
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Off of the coast of Croatia in the Adriatic Sea is a beautiful island known as the island of Šolta.
The water surrounding the island is a bright turquoise that makes the islands look like a tropical paradise.
With the population of only 1,700 people,
the coves around the island are perfect for swimming, fishing, and diving in the clear, warm water.
There is, however, one area that the locals try to avoid and that area is the bay of Poganica.
In the native Croatian, the name Poganica suggests something evil
and under the bay surface is the cave that is simply known as the bay of Poganica Cave.
In September of 2002, a group of people was sailing in the Adriatic Sea
and stopped in the bay of Poganica to do some diving.
On the night of Tuesday, September 10th, after having dinner and drinks,
some of the members of the group decided to go diving at around 9:00 PM.
The remaining individuals on the boat included three members of the crew,
the captain who was asleep in his cabin, and a man known as MK.
Around 15 minutes after the group left, MK decided that he wanted to go diving as well
and so he entered the water at around 9:15.
Originally from Germany, MK was a 31-year-old naturalized citizen of Croatia
and worked as a cook.
For his dive, he was using a 15-liter air cylinder pressurized to 200 bars.
He was wearing a neoprene suit and he had a dive computer on his wrist
to give him all of the necessary information for nice, safe dive.
At the surface of the water, Poganica bay is a nice, comfortable 24 degrees Celsius (75.2 F).
MK then slowly made his way down to 9 meters (29.5 ft) to the cave entrance.
The entrance of the cave is a 2-meter (6.6 ft) wide funnel shape that gradually widens down the first corridor.
At around 15 meters (49.2 ft), there is a split in the corridor that separates the cave into two galleries --
one shallow and one deep.
Although not shown on the map, each one of these galleries has a labyrinth of tunnels
that snake their way through the chambers,
making it very easy to get lost.
The interior of the cave, as with most caves, is lined with a fined silt.
The silt is composed of dust and sand and typically lines the floor of these underwater caves.
Divers have to be very careful not to disturb the silt or it'll create an opaque fog in the cave
that brings a visibility to essentially zero.
Even with a high-power flashlight, the way that the particles scattered the light
can make it difficult for divers to even see their hands one foot in front of their face.
Upon reaching the split in the cave, MK decided to enter the deep gallery, which goes all the way down to 57 meters (187 ft).
It also has at least one straight drop that allows you to go from 35 meters (115 ft) at the roof of the chamber
all the way down to 50 meters (164 feet) in a straight line.
Although MK was in good physical condition, his dive training was fairly basic
and he was also fairly inexperienced as a diver.
Despite this, he went straight for the drop-off and straight down to 50 meters (164 ft)
in a smooth, dark descent.
At the bottom of the pitch black chamber, the temperature drops a whole 10 degrees to only 14 degrees Celsius.
After reaching 50 meters, MK started to ascend right away,
first back up to the roof of the chamber, and then into the corridor leading out.
And then he made a crucial mistake.
MK made a wrong turn.
Instead of going towards the exit funnel, MK turned and went into the shallow gallery.
According to divers who know the cave well, when ascending from the deep gallery,
the shallow gallery entrance looks like the exit funnel, even in good visibility.
In poor visibility, like in a silted out cave, this mistake would be even easier to make.
To make things worse, MK had had a few drinks with dinner,
impairing his judgment as he entered an entirely unfamiliar section of the cave.
This was now around 25 minutes into his dive and with the air that he had brought,
he had only 35 minutes of air to ascend to the surface.
This would also need to include some decompression stops along the way,
or else he would get severe decompression sickness from ascending too quickly.
MK must have been horrified as he made his way through the labyrinth of tunnels, looking for the exit.
On the surface at 10:30, the rest of the group that had gone diving returned to the boat.
Upon realizing that MK was still missing, two of the divers went to the cave to search for him.
They searched for over an hour before turning to the boat at 11:41
but found no sign of MK anywhere.
The group knew that unless MK had found an air pocket somewhere in the cave
based on the amount of air that he had taken, he would've already been completely out of air.
But 12:15 AM on Wednesday morning, they made an emergency call to the police
in the nearby city of Split, Croatia.
Later that morning, two police divers arrived and dove into the water to search the Poganica bay cave.
First, they swam the entrance at 9 meters and then entered the dark tunnel.
The cave widened out for a little, until about 15 meters (49.2 ft) when they reached the split between the two galleries.
The police divers were attached together by line to prevent them from getting lost while searching.
But at some point, one of the divers let go of the line and disappeared into the darkness.
After his partner was nowhere to be found, the other police diver frantically searched for the way out
as he ran out of air.
Just before he was out of air, he managed to find the exit tunnel and escaped the abyss.
In his panic and because of how low on air he was, he had to skip his decompression stops
and developed severe decompression sickness as a result.
The police diver who had gotten lost would not be seen alive again.
It's thought that he made the same mistake as MK and mistook the tunnel
to the shallow gallery as the exit tunnel, and then got lost in the labyrinth of tunnels.
Although, this was tragic, the search was still ongoing for MK.
There were various sections in the cave where tiny fragments of light filtered through into the tunnels
and so it was conceivable that there were air pockets that existed where MK could have found refuge.
If he was still alive, this would mean that he would've been trapped for over 24 hours in the dark
when divers would finally re-enter the cave the following day to continue the search.
The police diver who had gotten lost was found dead at 24 meters (79 ft) in the shallow gallery of the cave.
After searching the shallow gallery thoroughly, MK's body was still nowhere to be found.
Divers then entered the deep gallery and tragically, MK's body was found at 54 meters (177 ft)
at the bottom of the cave.
He was still in full gear,
his diving mask was not on his head,
his regulator was out of his mouth,
and he had a knife in his chest.
While removing his gear, the knife was accidentally removed from his chest and his dive computer fell off
but they were recovered soon after and brought to the surface.
Upon making this horrific discovery, the rescue had officially turned into a crime scene
and MK's death had to be treated as a possible homicide.
All of the diving equipment and all of the dive computers from all of the members of the party were collected
for forensic investigation.
In addition, there was a suspicious red stain that was found on the deck of the boat.
Police swabbed the area and immediately sent it off for analysis.
Next, blood samples were taken from the entire crew and several knives were collected from the boat.
Police then administered polygraph tests to all of the crew and all of them passed
except two of the crew who were on the boats when MK reportedly went diving.
Before testing, they were unaware that MK had been found and during the testing,
the subjects reacted to the words "knife" and "blood".
After the test, these two individuals were taken into custody, but no formal charges were made just yet.
The rest of the party was released, but forbidden to leave the country as the investigation continued.
While police waited for the stain analysis results, all of the scuba gear was also analyzed.
First, they needed to make sure everything was working correctly and hadn't been tampered with or sabotaged.
The dive computers were tested in a hyperbaric chamber and pressurized to a simulated depth
that would exceed the depth at the bottom of the deep gallery.
Analysis thereafter showed that each computer displayed the same dive profile,
indicating that they were in perfect working condition.
The profiles created by dive computers tracked the beginning of the dive,
the maximum depth, the total decompression time, total ascent time and total dive time.
These can then be used to create a graphical representation of the dive.
In addition, the computers had recorded 37 earlier dives.
Data that once stored cannot be deleted or changed, ensuring its accuracy.
The autopsy on MK's body found that he was in good physical condition prior to his death.
He had a stab wound on the left side of his chest between his nipple and his sternum.
And the wound was 11 centimeters (4.3 in) deep and punctured his aorta.
His lungs were also found to have water in them, indicating that he had breathed water
sometime around the time that he died,
which is typical of drowning.
This means that it was likely that he died within two minutes or less after being stabbed.
His blood alcohol was also 0.114.
For reference, the legal limit for driving is typically 0.08.
Based on all this information and the signs of drowning,
MK was either stabbed and then thrown almost immediately into the water
or stabbed under the water.
The police then explored several different possibilities about the circumstances of his death.
First, they explored the possibility that MK got into a fight with one or more people
for some unknown reason.
MK could have then been stabbed on the boat and then thrown into the water where he lived for a few minutes.
This would explain the signs of drowning around the same time he was stabbed.
Now, to understand the next part,
you need to understand what the graphical representation of the dive computer ended up revealing.
First, it showed MK entering the water and heading down to the entrance of the cave in one smooth descent.
From there, he traveled directly into the deep gallery and almost directly down to the 50-meter mark.
After touching down, his dive meter registered him going up almost immediately once again.
After this, the graph bounces up and down between the maximum depth of the shallow gallery
and the ceiling of the shallow gallery --
indicating that he was moving around within its tunnels, seemingly looking for a way out.
At some point, after the random depth changes, he ascended deeper once again to around 40 meters (131 ft).
He then rested up this depth for around five minutes before the graph shows a descent straight down
to the bottom of the cave where his body was found.
So if MK was stabbed on the boat and thrown in right away,
his body would then need to be taken directly down to 50 meters (164 ft).
Then taken up and taken, wandering through the shallow section.
Then back to the deep section, where it was dropped to the bottom of the cave.
Technically speaking, the killer could have done this by using MK's air, saving his own for the return
but he wouldn't have been able to surface at 10:30 PM or earlier
as was corroborated by the other members of the party
unless he skipped his decompression stops and risked serious decompression sickness.
Additionally, if MK had been stabbed on the boat,
He wouldn't have been able to clear his ears or sinuses, which is typical during a descent in order to avoid injury.
During the autopsy, this would've manifested as ruptured eardrums
and blood in the middle ear canal, which was not found.
An experienced diver would've been aware of this fact, but still might have done it anyway
in an attempt to hide the body.
But because of the timeline and how demanding this would've been,
this scenario was ruled out.
The next scenario considered was one of premeditated murder.
The killer could have tied the dive computer to a rope,
added weight to it and brought it to the entrance of the cave and dropped it down and simply pulled it up and down
to simulate the depths achieved and cover the tracks.
The body could have then been placed at the bottom at any point in time
and the dive computer would have a falsified version of the events.
This scenario was again ruled out because the way the cave was shaped.
It's highly unlikely that the depth recorded by the dive computer could be achieved
without catching on a rock or ledge, which would've made the initial smooth descent
down to 50 meters (164 ft) almost impossible.
The final possibility that was examined was one where MK did actually encounter the initial two divers
who had gone to search for him shortly after they got back from their dive.
It's possible that one of them found MK resting under the roof of the deep gallery
when MK was already almost out of air.
Upon noticing the rescuer, MK could have panicked and attacked him to try to save himself at all costs.
At some point during the attack, MK could have pulled a knife that the rescuer then used to stab MK in defense.
After that, the rescuer could have ascended and called the police and given the timeline that was reported.
However, the dive computer showed that the rescue started at 10:46.
This was already roughly 45 minutes after MK's dive computer had flatlined at the bottom of the deep gallery.
The other rescuer didn't descend to more than 9 meters (29.5 ft), ruling him out as a suspect.
Therefore, a final situation was considered.
This is that sequence of events.
On Tuesday, September 10th, 2002,
MK entered the water at 9:15 PM shortly after another party of divers.
He then descended down 9 meters to the cave entrance.
After entering the cave, he went directly down the first quarter to reach the split off
between the deep and shallow galleries.
He chose the path to the deep gallery and swam down that quarter
and then almost directly down to 50 meters (164 ft) in one smooth descent.
Upon touching down, MK went directly back up,
possibly to the exit of the cave, but he seems to have mistaken the entrance of the shallow gallery for the exit.
This was either due to their close appearance or due to silty conditions, reducing visibility in the cave.
He then swam around the labyrinth of tunnels in the shallow gallery for almost 30 minutes,
probably panicking, knowing he was lost, before finding the corridor to the deep gallery once again.
Upon entering the deep gallery, he was already almost out of air
and knew that he would soon drown.
He seems to have looked around the deep section for a minute or two before resting against the ceiling,
contemplating what to do next.
He might have been panicking, he might have been calm, but since no one is alive to tell the story,
we'll never know.
What we do know is that MK was almost certainly afraid of drowning.
Because he made the horrifying decision to stab himself in the chest to avoid it.
It's unclear whether or not MK was conscious in his last moments
but he seems to have inhaled water at some point anyway,
making his last moments even more tragic.
It's also unclear how much the alcohol played a role in impairing his judgment
or how much he was affected by nitrogen narcosis in his final minutes.
After stabbing himself, MK slowly drifted down to the deepest part of the cave
where his body was ultimately found at 54 meters (177 ft).
This conclusion was initially rejected by Croatian military divers who rejected suicide as a possibility.
The results of the stain further confirmed to the conclusions of the forensic team
when it was found to have just been some paint that had stained the deck.
In addition, the forensic team reasoned that if it was murder,
there would've been much easier ways to kill someone during a dive.
First, MK could have been easily approached from behind.
His regulator could have been pulled out and he could have drowned just the same.
The purge button on his equipment could have also been pushed,
emptying his air cylinder. Once again, leading to his drowning.
Finally, there are plenty of cases observed where victims choose suicide over a perceived worse way of dying.
For example, in the case of a burning building, victims frequently choose to jump to their death
instead of what is perceived as a much worse fate, which is burning to death.
And so, ultimately, MK's death was ruled a suicide.
Contributing to his death was his inexperience, the alcohol in his system
and the difficulty of the cave he was diving in.
With that being said, considering that one of the police divers died while attempting the rescue,
It's clear that the Poganica bay cave lives up to the reputation given to it by locals.
If you made it this far, I just wanted to thank you for watching.
This is part eight of the series Cave Exploring Gone Wrong
so if you enjoyed this video, you may want to go check out the other videos in the series.
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