| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liebman, Bill | Not recorded | Male | Break | Ankle |
On Wednesday, April 2, a group of five cavers, Bob Benedict, Jeb Blakely, Jean Jancewitz, Bill Liebman and Rick Rigg, entered Tzitzicazapan, a cave adjacent to the town of Cuetzalan in the northeast corner of the state of Puebla in Mexico. They carried food and gear for a seven-day stay. With heavy duffel bags they made their way along the stream inlet passage leading from the entrance. After over a kilometer of this, occasionally quite narrow with a few swims and a couple of short waterfalls needing rope, they reached the 30 meter rappel into the main stream passage. Proceeding down this for some distance they turned left, climbing into a higher level passage which quickly led to the Big Room, a stadium-sized affair with a rolling, sandy floor where they established their camp. The objective of this group was to push on down the main stream passage. A Belgian expedition had forced the previous terminus, a 300 m long boulder choke, and proceeded down virgin borehole through three more boulder chokes before turning back at the end of their allotted time. At Cuetzalan rain is common, even in the dry season, and it occurred to these explorers that the boulder chokes, which had to be traversed through constricted ways at stream level, would be flood-prone and dangerous. In pre-trip discussions they decided that these chokes should be avoided between the hours of 5 and 10 p.m., assuming a two hour lag for the rain pulse to traverse the three km from the entrance to the first boulder choke, and observing that rains seemed to occur most commonly between 3 and 8 p.m. The first choke included a major tributary, thought to be the other main stream in the cave, giving the stream below a very large surface drainage area. At 5 a.m. on Friday, April 4, they set out on a downstream push. In the first choke fishing line was paid out to mark most of the complicated route through the boulders. Of the group, only Liebman had been through this choke before and a lot of route-finding was necessary, the trip through taking five hours. Many arrows were smoked to help indicate the route. They pushed on, through the second choke before being turned back by a lack of rigging at a water chute. At about 9:30 p.m. they began the traverse back through the first choke. Not far in Liebman and Rigg stopped to collect a biological specimen, the rest continuing. After a few minutes the two proceeded, stooping and crawling in the water through the boulders. Fifteen minutes later a small hole leads up into a room where one can stand. From there a chute leads down to the water and a four inch air space allows passage to a canal swim. Liebman went on down the chute but found no air space. He returned to the room and tried another chute and then another, with no luck. He rechecked the first and then returned to the room for a discussion with Rigg who had arrived. They decided the first was correct. Since the water had turned muddy they suspected a rise. At about this time they heard the others returning, yelling that the cave was flooding. Through a space between the boulders they could be seen and were directed to the low spot, now sumped, and all safely made it through. Packs were passed up and through the small hole leading back down-cave and the united group beat it back through the lower 15 m of boulder choke to open borehole. The stream had become a torrent. The passage at that point was about 30 m wide and 10 m high, with a ledge offering refuge about four meters above the stream. The group assembled there and inventoried their supplies. Carbide was in short supply so they doused their lights and tried to sleep. The water level was marked and occasionally observed. Everyone was wet and cold and sleep was difficult. They huddled together in the dark. About nine hours later the water crested, having risen 60 cm in a 10 meter-wide section. After 17 hours the stream was nearly back to normal and had cleared - they decided to leave. Three fearful hours later they had negotiated the choke, counting at least 13 places the route had been sealed off during the flood. After another hour they were back in camp, 38 hours after the trip had begun.
The flood hit during the predicted time span. The lack of heed given the prediction might have cost lives. It is one's right, however, to play the percentages or not as one chooses. Liebman and Rigg waiting for the rest helped speed their passage through the difficult place and is certainly commendable.