A Florida man stationed at Fort Campbell was killed in Alabama in a fall while rappelling Saturday. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported 20-year-old Phillip Whitehead was killed when he fell 100 feet after a possible equipment malfunction as he rappelled in a cave called the “Key Hole” in Stephens Gap-Callahan Preserve in Jackson County.
A friend with Whitehead had been down the rope a couple of times but it was Whitehead’s first time when the accident happened.
Whitehead was pronounced dead at the scene.
A permit is required to enter the caves but it’s unknown if they had the permit.
