Cave Death of Diver Still a Puzzle

The accident was freakish enough--a diver getting trapped in an old, murky well, his safety rope hopelessly tangled as he fought for air.

But the fact that it happened to Paul Francis Hayden, say those close to him, is truly unexplainable.

Hayden was a U.S. Air Force pararescue jumper, a member of one of the most elite, best-trained units in the military, a tightly muscled 39-year-old who plunged from helicopters and swam against currents and hoisted hurt fisherman from frothy seas.

Hayden died Sunday during a recreation dive in Goss Canyon in which he suffocated in an 85-year-old abandoned well blasted out of a mountainside.

His colleagues at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Ariz., were stunned when they learned about the accident. Hayden, who joined the Air Force’s equivalent of the Navy SEALS in 1986, was a full-time pararescue instructor known for his caution and reserve.

“Paul was not a thrill seeker,” said his commanding officer, Col. Kent Clark. “He was extremely careful. He was always very conscientious about inspecting his equipment and took care of the people with him. I just can’t figure out what went wrong.”

On Sunday, Hayden, a master sergeant, and his brother Michael, 42, hiked into remote, rugged Goss Canyon in the foothills of La Crescenta, lugging scuba equipment, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Goss Canyon is a local’s secret, not known to many outsiders but a scenic refuge for those who can find it. At the top of the canyon, buried within the steep granite walls, is a well that was opened in 1915 and long since abandoned. Hayden and his six brothers and sisters, who grew up in La Crescenta, turned the well into a summer hangout, swimming and diving in the pools and exploring myriad tunnels and caverns that reach hundreds of feet underground, said Hayden’s mother, Edythe.

On Sunday, the two brothers crawled into the 3-by-4-foot well opening, tethered themselves to each other with a rope and began diving with air tanks and lights. They had done this countless times before, Edythe Hayden said. Often Paul Hayden would carry a lighter with him to test the air pockets inside the caverns for poisonous gases.

But within 15 minutes of starting the dive, something went wrong. Hayden’s rope got tangled while he was squeezed into one of the narrow tunnels filled with cold, silty water, authorities said. His brother tried to pull him out but couldn’t.

At 1:20 p.m., Michael Hayden burst through the doors of the Crescenta Valley sheriff’s station asking for help. Sheriff’s divers responded and three hours later found Hayden’s body in a shaft half-full of water.

Hayden, whose head was above the water surface, apparently suffocated from lack of oxygen, said Scott Carrier of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. Carrier could not say whether Hayden might have become asphyxiated on air filled with carbon dioxide, but he said Hayden’s scuba tank still held plenty of air.

An autopsy will be scheduled later this month, Carrier said.

Hayden’s family described the Air Force sergeant as an adventurer who once fought an octopus in the Atlantic Ocean, who enjoyed extreme sports like ice climbing and hang gliding, and who always was up for another challenge, another impossible test.

“Paul was energy,” said his sister Christine.

Hayden, who was visiting his family home in La Crescenta, was one of the most experienced pararescue jumpers in the country, said Clark, the commanding officer. He had powered his way through extensive physical training--sets of 100 push-ups, swimming 4,000 meters, running six miles in less than 40 minutes. He had won 17 medals for his military service.

“The guy was a complete stud,” said Chief Pararescueman Victor Villasenor, one of Hayden’s training comrades. “He was strong, in excellent shape. He was kind. He was witty. He was the type of guy who belonged in the movies.”

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Diver’s fatal accident

Paul Hayden, a highly trained para-rescuer, died in a cave-diving accident when his safety rope got tangled, trapping him under water.

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*Air quality unknown

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Source: Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department; Family account