In 1994, 20-year-old Deon Dreyer went on a cave-diving expedition.
During the deep-water dive, at Bushman's Cave near Danielskuil in the Northern Cape, the adrenaline junkie blacked out.
Within minutes his body sank 271m to the bottom.
Friday is the 10th anniversary of Deon's disappearance into the watery void.
"It is by no means assured that it will be successful" For a decade his body has been lying in darkness at the bottom of the famous cave.
Deon's parents, Theo and Marie Dreyer, have been desperately trying to recover his body so they can bring some closure to their loss and start healing.
On October 28, when they had just about resigned themselves to never finding their son's remains, Dave Shaw, an Australian pilot and a deep-cave diver who uses a rebreather system (where the gases are recycled) was exploring Bushman's Cave - the world's third-deepest freshwater cave.
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That's when he made his grisly discovery.
"As I swept left with my light I saw a body, as plain as day. He was lying on his back, arms in the air and legs outstretched," Shaw said.
'The other bodies were just bodies, but this is different' Shaw attached his guideline to the diver's remains and ended the dive. When he resurfaced, Shaw met the Dreyers and told them that he would go back and attempt to fetch their son.
"This is a huge dive that has to be very carefully planned, and it is by no means assured that it will result in a successful recovery," Shaw explained this week. "But I will do my best."
Shaw said he lived to explore caves.
"If no one else has been where I am, even better. Depth is by far secondary."
"It is all about exploration, and that's what was so special about the dive in Bushman's Cave."
"At the bottom I was exploring, rather than just reaching the bottom and then starting the ascent. It was because I was exploring that I found Deon's body."
According to the recovery dive's technical co-ordinator, Don Shirley, of the International Association of Nitrox and Technical Divers, the team - which also includes Dusan Stajokovic, Gerhard du Preez, Lo Vingerling, Mark Andrews, Peter Herbst and Steven Sander - will use closed-circuit rebreather systems when they go down next month.
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