NewsLocal News

Actions

Professionals urge caution, preparedness after woman dies after hot spring dive

Posted

MIDWAY, Utah — For the last 20 years Dave Mohowski and Dive Utah have made the Homestead Crater in Midway one of their go-to dive training destinations.

"The water's a constant 94-96 degrees year round, even in the dead of winter your protected from the elements, that's what makes it so popular there's no current, there's no waves, there's no wind when you're inside," Mohowski said.

Earlier this week he and many others in the diving community had heavy hearts as they learned about a 43-year-old woman who experienced complications after surfacing from a dive at the crater Tuesday night.

The woman later passed away at a nearby hospital, her exact cause of death is still unknown.

"Our heart goes out to the family and everyone and also the other buddies, instructors, and anyone else who might've been there," Mohowski said. "Anytime something like this happens there's always a pause for everybody."

Mohowski is using this moment as a time to reflect on overall dive safety.

"We need to know our depths and our times, make sure we don't stay down too long, we want to make sure when we're coming up we come up nice and slow, we want to make sure any time we're underwater we're not holding our breath," Mohowski said.

He also wants to remind divers to not get complacent.

"We live in Utah there's not a lot of diving around here most people are going on trips so maybe they're only going once a year or once every two years," Mohowski said. "We remind everyone to brush up and to try and stay current and keep diving as much as they can so their skills remain sharp."