She Died 65 Feet Under. Now, Manslaughter Charges

A scuba lesson off the coast of Argentina has turned into a criminal case. Prosecutors have charged 26-year-old instructor Thiago Nahuel Pocovi with manslaughter in the death of 23-year-old diver Sofia Devries, who disappeared during a Feb. 16 training dive and was found dead two days later, reports People. Judge Marcela Perez Bogado opened the criminal investigation on Monday, with Pocovi appearing remotely from Buenos Aires, according to Argentine outlets. Authorities say Pocovi was instructing a group of divers near an artificial reef in the Golfo Nuevo, off of the Punta Cuevas Historical Park in the province of Chubut, as Devries worked to advance her diving certification with her partner.

Devries was said to have suffered some kind of medical emergency as she tried to come back to the surface, with attempts by her boyfriend to help her in vain, prosecutor Alex Williams said, per Us Weekly. Williams' team alleges that Pocovi violated established safety rules for professional instructors, including leading a dive in "extremely poor visibility," reports DIVE Magazine. Devries' body was recovered about 65 feet underwater, close to where she'd vanished, per People; an autopsy showed she'd drowned. The Public Prosecutor's Office will now conduct further inquiries and decide whether to move the case to trial. More here on what prosecutors say happened.