No injured cavers recorded.
Shortly after midnight on Monday, July 20, Tony Hughes (17), Tom Hughes and Rob Rieman entered Sloan's Valley Cave in Pulaski County, Kentucky. They were experienced cavers and Tony Hughes had been in this cave "a half dozen times previously."
Tony Hughes guided the group down the "southern extension" when they came to a drop blocking the way. A fixed rope there proved to be muddy. At about 3 a.m. Tony Hughes slid down the rope to a ledge just below the top but realized in the process that it was too muddy to allow him to ascend.
Hughes told the others to retrace their route to the surface and he would meet them, following a different route. They departed but Tony Hughes soon found his alternate route flooded from heavy spring rains. He eventually returned to the rope and struggled to the top. He had lost his field map of the cave, however and soon found himself lost.
Meanwhile his companions twice returned to the rope drop looking for him, then called the Pulaski County Rescue Squad. By 10 a.m. the PCRS had sent 8 men into the cave. At about noon a "mud-covered, bedraggled" Hughes emerged from the cave, having missed the rescuers who came out sometime later.
The cavers were reportedly using flashlights as a main source. It is easier to get disoriented the less light one has. Obviously they would have been better off if Tony Hughes had checked his alternate route before sending the others out - if possible, keep a party together.
Experienced caver descended a muddy slope he could not ascend. Thinking he could get out an alternate way, he got lost. He managed to get out some time later, missing rescuers sent to find him.