incident at Ward-Gregory Cave

Date
26th Sep 1981
Publication
ACA 1980-1981 p. 117
Cave
Ward-Gregory Cave
State
New York
County
Unknown
Country
United States of America
Category
Cave
Incident type
Unknown
Group type
Other
Group size
Unknown
Aid type
Unknown
Source
Unknown
Incident flags

Injured cavers

No injured cavers recorded.

Incident report

At 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 26, 1981, four juvenile cavers, Thomas Fargossa, Greg Plunkett, Jim Hennessey and Steve Sgalson entered Ward-Gregory Cave in Clarksville New York. They carried "2 cell flashlight, candles, matches and drinking water". They did the main area of the cave and headed out. Fargossa and Plunkett noticed another passage and decided to continue exploring - the other two left.

After a while the two in the cave became confused and for hours "wandered in and out of different passages". Hennessey eventually contacted Fargossa's parents who in turn called the State Police and Albany County Sheriff. At 10:15 Ron Sloan of the Northeastern Cave Rescue Network was alerted and at 10:35 got the go-ahead for a search and rescue at the cave. Equipment and four rescuers reached the cave 15 minutes later. As they prepared to enter, the lost cavers exited.

Incident analysis

Another small episode in the annals of flashlight cavers.

References

  1. Richard Schaefer, Unpublished Report.
This record was last updated on 29th Apr 2024 at 09:01 UTC.