John Hopkins

Never wondered what you would do when disaster strikes?

If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice?

Welcome to Real Survival Stories.

These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations.

People suddenly forced to fight for their lives.

In this episode, we meet world-renowned diver Don Shirley.

In October 2004, Don and his friend Dave are diving in South Africa's legendary Bushman's Hole, when Dave stumbles on a body in the darkest depths of the flooded cave.

The discovery kickstarts an audacious mission, the deepest body recovery ever attempted.

But in this environment, there is almost no room for error.

Even the slightest mishap can be fatal.

So when, during the dive, the two friends run into multiple unexpected difficulties, a harrowing battle for survival ensues in one of the most hostile and perilous places on Earth.

And the consequences will be calamitous.

I'm John Hopkins.

From the Noisa Podcast Network, this is Real Survival Stories.

It's 4 a.m.

on Saturday, January the 8th, 2005.

In South Africa, the skies above the Kalahari Desert are still black, the landscape cloaked in the blanket of night.

Inside a small lodge on Mount Carmel Game Farm, some 300 miles southwest of Johannesburg, an alarm breaks the silence of a dark room shared by two men, 48-year-old Don Shirley and 50-year-old Dave Shaw.

The two friends stretch and yawn, then set about the business of showering and getting ready for the day ahead.

Their actions are ordinary, offering no hint of the vast undertaking that lies ahead of them.