No injured cavers recorded.
Three divers were diving in Madison Blue Spring one evening. One was suffering from a cold but had taken decongestants to clear his ears. Just inside, the primary light source of this diver failed. About 600 feet in, that diver's second light began to dim, so a partner loaned his second source and all continued. At 1200 feet they turned back. They then spread out so that they were not inter-visible. At a necessary descent, the diver with a cold couldn't equalize pressure in his ears so continued in extreme pain. He spotted a dome and, unknown to the others, left the line and ascended the 15 feet to the ceiling hoping the air pressure change would help. He had been the middle man, but before he was ready to continue, the last diver, the reel man, swam past. The sick diver was thus left without a line and with a light too dim to signal with. Fortunately his ears had cleared and he was able to catch up. Surprisingly, he survived the dive.
Bohrer gives the obvious tips: "Don't cut corners on health, lights and party coherence." The sick diver was in special danger - he hadn't dived the cave before and would have had a hard time finding the way if he hadn't caught right up. It was night and no light showed from the entrance. Both companions thought everything was OK and wouldn't have missed him until too late. He had a dim light and no line.
Diver with cold, experiencing equipment failure and separation from group, survives cave diving incident.