LOUISVILLE — A Western Kentucky University geology professor was hospitalized with rib and shoulder fractures after being rescued from a tributary of Mammoth Cave where he fell 30 feet from a ledge.

        Chris Groves and two associates entered Sides Cave late Wednesday morning to retrieve dye receptors used to track water flow when a ledge on which Mr. Groves was walking collapsed, said Mammoth Cave National Park spokeswoman Vickie Carson.

        Mr. Groves, 42, fell into nearly three feet of water, but was pulled to another ledge by park hydrologist Joe Meiman and guide Bryce Leech, Carson said. Leech then went for help, she said.

        Some 100 cavers and res cuers were on the scene Wednesday night and early Thursday, Ms. Carson said. Experts in various phases of caving took part in the rescue effort in four-man shifts.

        “The biggest trick to it was they had to bring him through a 1,450-foot crawlway to get out and that was very narrow where only one person could pass through at a time and it had 2 to 10 inches of water in the bottom of it,” Ms. Carson said.

        Sometimes during the rescue, Mr. Groves had to be put back in the water to get through the passageway, she said.

        Mr. Groves reached the surface at 3:36 a.m. and was taken by helicopter to the University of Louisville Hospital. He was in fair condition Thursday.

        Ms. Carson said the three men who entered the cave through a waterfall are professional cavers.

        “Chris has caved all over the world, and this was truly an accident. They're excellent cavers,” she said.

        The cave is 360 feet under the hills, less than a mile from the Mammoth Cave entrance in south-central Kentucky.

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