A twenty-year-old undergraduate studying philosophy at Balliol College, Oxford, Moss became jammed underground, 1,000 feet (300 m) from the entrance,[2] after descending a narrow unexplored shaft in Peak Cavern, a famous cave system in Castleton in Derbyshire, on 22 March 1959.
[3] When he lost consciousness as carbon dioxide from his own respiration built up in the base of the shaft, he was unable to assist further rescue attempts made with a stronger rope.
More rescue efforts were made: on the second day eighteen-year-old June Bailey answered the call for an experienced caver small enough to fit into the tunnel, and spent six hours assisting, until she was "driven back by foul air."
His father, who had kept vigil at the entrance, requested that his son's body be left in place to avoid risk of further injury or loss of life to those attempting a retrieval.
It also featured in the novel One Last Breath (2004) by Stephen Booth,[10] and in a 2006 documentary by fellow Derbyshire caver Dave Webb, available on DVD as Fight For Life – The Neil Moss Story.