Lost in the same diving accident in December 1993, two men were recovered 30 years later at a depth of more than 100 metres, just 13 metres apart. Yet after an identical period of immersion in the same sea, the two bodies were not in the same state of preservation. In publishing the case in the International Journal of Legal Medicine, the forensic medicine team at Nice University Hospital reminds practitioners that in an underwater environment, the appearance of a body is not necessarily a reliable guide to how long it has been in the water [1].
The facts
The two divers disappeared together during an accident in the Mediterranean in December 1993. Their remains were not located until 30 years later, lying at depths of 103 and 113 metres, 13 metres from one another [1]. Taken into the care of the forensic medicine department at Nice University Hospital, both bodies underwent whole-body post-mortem computed tomography, external examination, autopsy, toxicological analysis and genetic identification [1]. Identification was achieved for both men, from muscle tissue in the first and from femoral bone in the second. Toxicological analyses were negative [1].
Two bodies, two taphonomic trajectories
Both bodies showed changes of the same kind, namely advanced skeletonisation affecting mainly the upper body, together with the persistence of adipocere-like tissue in the pelvic region and lower limbs [1]. On CT, these tissues showed attenuation values of between −100 and −40 Hounsfield units, consistent with adipocere [1]. The difference lay in the quality of what remained. In the first diver, the residual tissues were largely disorganised and reduced to yellowish-to-brown aggregates. In the second, the skin, hair and still recognisable muscle masses of the lower limbs had been preserved [1]. Adipocere, a waxy substance formed from body fat in moist, oxygen-poor conditions, is known to slow the breakdown of the tissues it permeates for long periods.
The diving equipment offers one line of explanation.
The first diver wore a two-piece semi-dry wetsuit, the second a full dry suit [1]. The authors relate these differences to the characteristics of the equipment and to the conditions of the immediate micro-environment surrounding each body [1]. A dry suit limits exchange with seawater and access by scavenging fauna, which may have favoured the formation of adipocere and then its preservation over 30 years.
What this means for expert practice
The authors draw a warning that applies to forensic pathologists and investigators alike. The visible state of decomposition does not, on its own, allow a reliable estimate of the postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) [1]. Two bodies immersed at the same time and in the same place may, 30 years on, display different post-mortem features, enough to seriously distort an estimate based on morphological criteria alone.
The case also illustrates the weight of individual factors in underwater taphonomy, a field still far less documented than its terrestrial counterpart. Diving equipment, clothing, body build or the immediate micro-environment can profoundly alter the evolution of a submerged body. Finally, it confirms that genetic identification remains possible after 30 years of deep immersion, including from soft tissue where it has been preserved, a valuable finding for investigations into long-standing disappearances in aquatic settings [1].
This finding bears directly on the concerns of the LETHE project (Localisation des épaves, traitement hydrographique et enquête, or wreck location, hydrographic processing and investigation), launched by the French Gendarmerie nationale in the summer of 2025 and led from Conflans-Sainte-Honorine by the detachment of the Pôle national de gendarmerie nautique [2]. The project grew out of the discovery, in October 2023, of skeletal remains inside a car that had lain for some 40 years in the Seille, a small river in Côte-d’Or. Its aim is to map every vehicle resting on the bed of the rivers, lakes and ponds of mainland France, in order to search for possible victims and to resolve cases that have remained unanswered [2]. By February 2026, three bodies had already been discovered, and the scheme is of close interest to the Gendarmerie’s cold case division, the Division des affaires non élucidées (DIANE), and to the serial and unsolved crimes unit of the Nanterre judicial court [2]. A public appeal has since been launched inviting anglers equipped with sonar, divers and archaeologists to report any wrecks they locate [3]. When such wrecks yield human remains, those remains have often spent several decades under water. The Nice case shows that their identification remains feasible, and that any estimate of how long they have been in the water will call for the greatest caution.
Sources
[1] Bernardi C., Amoretti N., Isaac A., Nogueira L., Temma J., Leccia C. et Alunni V. (2026), Two divers submerged in the Mediterranean Sea for 30 years, persistence of adipocere and implications for postmortem submersion interval estimation, International Journal of Legal Medicine, publié en ligne le 9 octobre 2026, DOI 10.1007/s00414-026-04038-y.
[2] Faure A. (2026), LETHE, un outil cartographique pour recenser les épaves immergées, Gendinfo, Gendarmerie nationale, 20 février 2026.
[3] Gendarmerie nationale (2026), Épaves immergées, le projet LETHE lance un appel à contribution citoyenne, Gendinfo, août 2026.
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