No injured cavers recorded.
On the evening of Saturday, September 26, a man went scuba diving in Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas. This diver had NAIU certification and 8 years experience. Still, the objective of the dive seems a bit unusual. The diver intended to take the end of a fishing line into an underwater cave, leaving it baited with several 5 pound catfish in hopes of catching a 70 pounder that was suppose to inhabit the cave. He was seen to swim into the cave but did not reappear. Sometime later authorities were notified and a search/rescue effort was begun, coordinated by William Burns from Missouri. A U/W recovery team from Kansas City, MO proceeded to the accident scene late Sunday evening. Meanwhile Tom Cook was called and he put an NCRC diving team on alert but the alert was rescinded when it was learned that it was a body recovery. Burns arrived on the scene first and dove the cave, finding the fish line and bait. Pushing further, he came to where the passage height lowered to only 16-20 inches, about 70 feet into the cave. There was no sign of the missing diver but the water was very silty, with visibility in the range of "0-5 inches." Moreover, there were obstacles which kept snagging his safety line and hoses. The KC team arrived and entered in pairs, but found no sign of the lost diver. Throughout the search there was a problem with the low visibility and unseen obstacles. One diver pushed past the place where Burns had stopped and pulled himself up over a tight lip to where the low passage continued. Suddenly a large rock fell from the ceiling striking the diver in the face, causing him to retreat. No body was found.
Tom Cook - "It is very apparent that the missing diver was not using proper cave diving equipment - no reel, only one light. The cave is a very dangerous one, visibility is always very poor and there are numerous obstacles. In this case a fish line would not be adequate as a safety line; indeed, a fish line should never be used as a safety line." Cook and Burns conjecture that the diver planted his bait and in so doing stirred up the silt, then let go of the fish line losing his way. Still, the body was not found - Burns thinks it might be in deep water outside the entrance to the cave. In accentuating the bad practices of the lost diver, it should be pointed out that he was working in a hazardous, low-visibility situation, alone.