| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saunders, Joe | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Simpson, Lou | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Stecko, Doug | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Patterson, Tom | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Allendorf, Bill | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Quick, Peter | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Crowl, Dan | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Worthman, Bruce | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Bean, Larry | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Anderson, Fred | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Shaeffer, Barb | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
On the morning of Saturday, March 20, the group of cavers at the Toohey Ridge Fieldhouse formed up into three parties with various objectives in the Fisher Ridge Cave near Mammoth Cave National Park in central Kentucky. Two groups would use the Splash Entrance. Joe Saunders was leading Lou Simpson, Doug Stecko, Tom Patterson and Bill Allendorf on their first Fisher Ridge trip. The second included Peter Quick, Dan Crowl and Bruce Worthman. The third group was Larry Bean, Fred Anderson and Barb Shaeffer using the Historic Entrance.
The Historic Entrance group exited at 11 p.m. and noted in so doing that the Forecaster Dome water flow had greatly increased over what they had seen on the way in. They debated whether or not to leave the Historic Route drops rigged in case the Splash Entrance should sump. They decided to leave only the entrance ladder rigged. When one of them checked the Fieldhouse they found Joe Saunders and Tom Patterson who had just exited a sumping Splash Entrance. The Historic drops were soon rerigged. Meanwhile Bill Allendorf, who had also gotten out Splash, had stayed at that entrance to warn those remaining not to try the virtual, but not quite, sump.
Joe Saunders' group had split up into groups of two and three and, the group of three was mapping when they noticed the air flow stop. This had to mean that the Splash Entrance had sumped. Since this was the only well known route to that group, they stashed the mapping gear and headed out. Pressure Dome normally dry, was now flowing a torrent SO they hurried on. At the lead the other faction of their original group was doing they left a note. The three knew the Historic Route so communication here was important.
At the Splash Entrance crawl series the three made it through with a minimum three inches of air space and 15-20 feet of 4-6 inches, there was voice contact all the way out. Outside they persuaded Allendorf to wait there to keep the other two, Simpson and Stecko from taking the chances they had. Some time later a storm hit and Splash was inundated by a three foot wall of water.
Meanwhile Simpson and Stecko had found the note and proceeded toward the entrance. There they found the extra gear left by the others was gone so they assumed them to be out. Suddenly there was a roar of water as the storm hit and the entrance crawl completely sumped. Climbing onto a six foot ledge they tried a crawlway but found it to dead-end, with water now flowing down it from the way the had come! They retraced their path to the "main" passage. They were now confused and blundered about in deep water before recognizing the correct passage away from the flooding. Soon they slowed their panicked flight and made their way back into Fisher Avenue. They did not know the Historic Route and so debated the proper course of action. First they wrung out their wet clothes, putting them back on, covered by their two emergency plastic bags. They had one carbide lamp without a tip but fired it up anyway for warmth. They still feared flooding and were nervous about trying to sleep.
At 3 a.m. lights approached from the north. This was Quick, Crowl and Worthman, who knew the Historic Route. The combined group exited the Historic Entrance.
It was overcast when the Splash groups entered but no rain or lightning were evident and the forecast called for clearing by evening. The Splash was at normal level. It had been used previously 15 times, but never in the rain. Later observation showed it to be passable 30 hours after sumping and back to normal 1 1/2 days after that.
A sumping incident at the Splash Entrance of Fisher Ridge Cave led to the separation of cavers and subsequent discovery and group exit via the Historic Entrance.