| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grainger, Bert | 13 | Male | Not recorded | Not recorded |
One Sunday afternoon Bert Grainger (13) and several friends decided to enter Schimmel Pit which consists of a small diameter 30-foot drop to a talus slope leading down about 12 feet to another 15-foot pit. Grainger began to descend the first drop hand-over-hand on a small diameter rope. He was about half way down when the rope broke and he fell. His only injury was a cut lip.
One youth ran for help and notified the police who in turn contacted the Madison County Rescue Squad who called the Cave, Pit and Cliff Rescue Unit. Before the rescue group arrived one of Grainger's companions, a sixteen-year-old girl, chopped down a small tree and inserted it into the pit. Grainger then climbed out and was taken to a hospital.
Analysis: The children were clearly unfamiliar with safe caving techniques. The girl showed great ingenuity in improvising a method for the boy to escape, but such ingenuity could easily have led to a second fall.
Source: Report by Darwin Moss.
This record was last updated on 27th Apr 2024 at 23:11 UTC.