Heartbreaking update in search for woman who disappeared while scuba diving
Topics: Travel
Stefania Sarrubba
Featured Image Credit: (Sofía Devries/Facebook)
Topics: Travel
A heartbreaking update has been issued concerning the young woman who has disappeared while scuba diving in Argentina earthier this month.
On 16 February, 23-year-old woman Sofía Devries of Moreno, Argentina, went on a dive to advance her scuba certification alongside her partner and five other divers near the Punta Cuevas Historical Park in the province of Chubut, as reported by Argentinian station Radio Rafaela.
When the tourist failed to surface, emergency protocol was put in place, with alarms triggered while three more divers were later taken to the Hospital Andrés Ísola for treatment, two of whom had to be placed in a hyperbaric chamber.
Following the incident, a multi-agency search for the missing woman was launched.
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Sadly, a new update on Devries' case has confirmed that the young diver has been found dead two days after she went missing about 65 feet below the water’s surface near where she first disappeared, according to Radio Rafaela.
Officials performed an autopsy on Devries' body, confirmed the diver died of drowning and no third party was involved.
Her boyfriend Leo later took to social media to give his accounts on the tragedy.
"Sofía is my girlfriend. We came to Puerto Madryn to get certified for a diving course,” he said, according to Diario De Cuyo. “Unfortunately, we had an underwater accident.”
Devries' boyfriend was also critical of the responding agencies, telling the outlet, “They didn’t act quickly and focused on bureaucratic procedures instead of searching for her immediately and accepting help from other divers.”
On the day her body was found, Prosecutor Alex Williams told reporters that Devries experienced a medical emergency during the ascent, and witnesses told officials that her partner tried to help her, but was unable to save her, the outlet and Radio Rafaela reported.
While the involvement of a third party and signs of a criminal act have been ruled out, officials are continuing to investigate Devries' death to determine if anyone who was supposed to keep her safe will be held partly responsible, the Diario De Cuyo reported.
The paper also reported that the prosecutor has ordered the seizure of the scuba diving equipment used by Sofia, as well as the paperwork and other items in order to be inspected.
Devries' more recent post on Instagram is an end-of-year reel posted on 31 December 2025. In the caption (which we translated from Spanish), the content creator hoped to make some more memories in 2026.
"Here's to a year full of good stories, memories and experiences," she wrote.
"Not long now and no one's ready for the year of the [horse]," she added, celebrating 'freedom and new beginnings'.