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Instructor Charged With Negligent Homicide After Diver's Death in Puerto Madryn

A judge opened a preparatory inquiry to enable prosecutors to collect technical peritajes, witness testimony, forensic reports, determine responsibility, decide whether to seek a trial

Overview

  • Prosecutors in Chubut formally charged instructor Thiago Nahuel Pocovi with homicidio culposo, a provisional criminal classification for deaths linked to negligence.
  • The court action took place in a hearing led by Judge Marcela Pérez Bogado that opened the investigation preparatoria and recorded Pocovi's virtual participation from Buenos Aires.
  • Investigators say the diver, 23-year-old Sofía Devries, removed her regulator while on the sea floor and later died from asphyxia by submersion, with her body found after a Prefectura Naval search.
  • The fiscal reconstruction says visibility was extremely poor and the dive continued despite that condition, and prosecutors will test whether safety protocols were breached through technical peritajes and witness statements.
  • If forensic reports and testimonies support the prosecutors' case the file could be formalized into an accusation and sent to trial, while the current charge remains provisional pending those results.