A 20-year-old Florida man was killed Saturday while rappelling into a cave at Stephens Gap-Callahan Preserve in Jackson County, Alabama, after a possible equipment malfunction.
Phillip Whitehead, a U.S. Army soldier at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, was at the cave a few miles north of the town of Woodville with a friend when he fell, according to Jackson County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Rocky Harnen.
Harnen said the incident happened at the entrance to the cave called the "Key Hole," which offers experienced cavers a rappelling drop of more than 100 feet. Another path leads from the cave's other entrance down a hiking route, he said.
It was second fatality at the "Key Hole" this year, Harnen said.
"What they do is they come through the 'Key Hole' and they rappel from there to the 'Pedestal' - that's what most people do," he said of the path climbers usually take, as Whitehead and his friend did on Saturday.
"The other guy had been down the rope a couple of times and it was [Whitehead's] first time on it. He had some kind of malfunction and he fell from the rope," Harnen said. "He fell close to 100 feet."
In this April 2016 photo, two cavers, center, stand between the large openings inside Stephens Gap Cave in Jackson County, Ala. Spelunkers may walk in, at right. Experienced vertical rope riders may enter by the waterfall, at left, called the "Key Hole."He added that Whitehead was pronounced dead on the scene.
Harnen said that to legally enter the cave, spelunkers must acquire a permit and security code for the entrance gate from Southeastern Cave Conservancy Inc., a nonprofit conservation organization that manages more than 170 caves across the Southeast. Harnen said he wasn't aware of the two men having a permit.
The person who answered the phone at the conservancy on Tuesday said that CEO Ray Knott was working at the cave and could not be reached. She could not say whether Whitehead and his friend had obtained a permit before entering the cave.
The first fatal fall of the year happened in April when a man fell while walking alone near the cave entrance, Harnen said. The man was identified as 25-year-old Juan Gerardo Cruces, of Madison County, Alabama, according to news reports.
It's not clear what the current status regarding visitors at the cave is, but after Cruces' deadly fall on April 11 the conservancy suspended issuing permits for a week to facilitate investigation of the accident, according to a statement on its website. Potential visitors should probably contact the conservancy before traveling there, officials said.
In other recent search-and-rescue efforts this summer, Jackson County authorities have been looking for a 61-year-old local man who went missing around June 1 in an area near the old Fabius Coal Mine.
Harnen said Jimmy Wayne McCarson has been the subject of repeated air and ground searches since June 1 but crews have recovered only a shirt so far. McCarson and a friend were riding trails in the area and got their vehicle stuck firmly in the mud, he said. McCarson's friend told officials the two became separated and he never saw McCarson again.
McCarson is described as a white man, about 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighing about 170 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes, according to officials. Anyone with information on McCarson is urged to contact the Jackson County Sheriff's Office at 256-574-2610.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook.com/benbenton1.