The father of the young diver whose remains Hong Kong adventurer Dave Shaw was trying to recover when he lost his own life says he would have preferred his son's body to have been left at the bottom of the underwater cave.
Theo Dreyer - whose 20-year-old son Deon disappeared in South Africa's treacherous Bushman's Cave in 1994 - said Shaw had ended a decade of torment for him when he discovered Deon's remains while on a record-breaking dive last October.
Mr Dreyer said he would have been happy for the cave, one of the world's deepest freshwater caves, to be his son's permanent tomb.
It was his wife Marie's wish to retrieve Deon's body that drove him to accept Shaw's offer to try to recover it.
Cathay Pacific pilot Shaw, 50, died last weekend trying to raise Deon from the bottom of the 270-metre-deep cave. The bodies of both men were found caught up in rescue lines 20 metres from the surface on Wednesday.
Speaking from his home in Vereeniging, near Johannesburg, Mr Dreyer, 51, said: 'From a personal point of view, I think it would have been better for Deon to stay down there.