A CAVE diver drowned 500ft underground after becoming tangled in ropes.

Colin Pryer, 29, had undertaken a cave dive in the Yorkshire Dales when he became tangled in ropes on Sunday.

Mr Pryer, from Newcastle, had been with his partner Gemma Jones preparing to dive on Saturday when it was delayed because of bad weather.

Ms Jones returned to Newcastle and when conditions improved on the Sunday, Mr Pryer phoned to tell her he was going ahead with the dive.

When she failed to hear from him that afternoon, Ms Jones raised the alarm. His body was found eight hours later.

Ms Jones, 26, said: "I do not know what I am going to do without him.

"We were soulmates and did everything together. We shared our love of the underground and of unknown territory."

Mr Pryer, 29, was found dead by fellow divers in Lower Birkwith, on March 13.

Ms Jones, a doctor at Newcastle General Hospital, said: "He was a great explorer and liked the fact that caving is the only thing left in the UK which has still got the possibility for original exploration."

Gemma and Colin, who had moved in together last year, met while staying at the Yorkshire Subterranean Society school, near Ingleton, North Yorkshire, where they were both members, in October 2001.

Alan Speight, a Yorkshire Subterranean Society member and worker at the centre where Gemma and Colin met, said: "I had known Colin since he was about 17.

"He was virtually here every weekend and was very competent in caving, even recommending good places to other people at the centre.

"But he was the last person you would ever have thought this could happen to."