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Pair rescued after spending days trapped in S. Indiana cave

BEDFORD, Ind. (AP) - Conservation officers have rescued two people who spent more than two days trapped in a southern Indiana cave.

The man and woman were rescued shortly before 11 a.m. Friday by conservation officers and trained cave rescue experts who searched the Doghill-Donnehue Cave system near Bedford, about 20 miles south of Bloomington.

Thirty-one-year-old Joshua Patton and 38-year-old Samantha East were found about 2,000 feet inside the cave system.

The Bedford residents were treated for hypothermia, dehydration and exhaustion.

Patton said he and East had entered the cave about 6 p.m. Tuesday, using only a cellphone light to negotiate the cave's passages.

When that cellphone was damaged, they used cigarette lighters for illumination. But Patton said they stopped and waited in the cave's total darkness when their lighters ran out of fuel.

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