Featured Image Credit: Jones family photo / Utah County Sheriff’s Office / Deseret News
Spelunking isn't a hobby for everyone.
John Edward Jones had a real passion for it but sadly, his first expedition into Nutty Putty Cave was his last.
Southwest of Utah Lake and about 55 miles from Salt Lake City is Nutty Putty Cave: a place that was quite popular with cave explorers but has been sealed off following the tragic incident.
Just before Thanksgiving, on November 24, 2009, John explored the cave with some family and friends. He was in the prime of his life at age 26 with a wife and a one-year-old daughter.
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About an hour into the caving expedition, John tried to find the formation known as the Birth Canal. This is a tight passage - about the size of a clothes dryer - that spelunkers must crawl through carefully if they so dare.
Thinking he had found it, he inched his way in headfirst using his hips, stomach and fingers to drag himself forward. But within minutes, he realised he was stuck.
He tried to exhale to fit through the space that was barely 10 inches across and 18 inches high.
But when John inhaled again, his chest expanded and he was lodged in for good.
John's brother, Josh, was the first to find him.
He tried pulling at his brother's calves, but John only slid further into the passage, trapping him even worse. Now, his arms were pinned beneath his chest and he couldn’t move at all.
Both devout Mormons, all the brothers could do at this point was pray.
'Save me for my wife and kids,' John prayed.
Josh scrambled out of the cave to get help.
But as John was trapped 100 feet below the surface, it took an hour to get people, equipment, and supplies down that far.
Over the next 24 hours, more than 100 rescue workers tried desperately to free John using a system of pulleys and ropes.
After 27 hours, there was no hope of rescue.
Tragically, the 26-year-old's downward position put immense strain on his heart and he was pronounced dead from cardiac arrest just before midnight on November 25, 2009.
Years after the incident, Shaun Roundy, one of the rescuers on the scene still replays the event in his head: 'I reviewed the whole mission, wishing we’d have done this tiny detail differently or done that a little sooner.
'But it’s no use second-guessing things. We did our best.'
A week later, officials sealed off the entrance to Nutty Putty Cave for good with concrete sealing. Because Jones' body couldn't be removed, the site is now considered a grave.
