John Hopkins

Nobody is entirely sure how deep it may go.

No light or sound penetrates its depths.

It is an inhospitable alien place, a dead zone.

And yet today, life has come to Bushmans.

Deep below the surface, a tiny pinprick of light descends steadily through the infinite darkness.

It's a torch belonging to 50-year-old diver Dave Shaw.

He glides gracefully downwards with single-minded focus, guided by a weighted shot line.

At around 260 meters, or 850 feet, Dave reaches the silty, sloping bottom of the chamber.

Dave pushes deeper into the unknown, keen to explore the uncharted floor of the cave.

He has just achieved an elite status.

At this point, more people have walked on the surface of the moon than have ever successfully dived to these sorts of depths.

He is now nearly as deep as the Eiffel Tower is tall.

Dave swims slowly forward, sweeping his torch from side to side.

Only the third diver in history to reach the bottom of this extraordinary cavern.

But then his light catches on something unexpected and shocking.

Encased in scuba diving gear, the body is lying on its back, its legs outstretched, its arms floating.

Exposed to the water, its head and hands are mere bone.

Yet a diving mask is still strapped disquietingly to its skull, the face turned up towards the black void above.

Barely hesitating, Dave abandons his exploration and swims towards the body.

He wraps his arms around it and tries to lift it from the silt.