WARNING - DISTRESSING CONTENT: JOHN EDWARD JONES WAS JUST 26 WHEN HE GOT STUCK UPSIDE DOWN IN A CREVICE IN THE NUTTY PUTTY CAVE IN UTAH, US, AND, DESPITE THE BEST EFFORTS OF A LARGE RESCUE

TEAM, HE TRAGICALLY DIED 10:00, 22 May 2025Updated 11:46, 03 Jun 2025 Caving is often seen as a perilous sport, and an incident just days before Thanksgiving in 2009 served as a stark

reminder of its dangers. Medical student John Edward Jones was spending time with his family in Utah, including his wife Emily and their newborn daughter. John, a keen caver, decided to

embark on a trip to the Nutty Putty Cave with his brother and nine friends, indulging in his favourite pastime. However, unbeknownst to his loved ones, within 24 hours of his holiday visit,

getting stuck in the cave, leading to its closure for three years in 2006 due to police concerns over potential fatalities. However, given that the group included several seasoned cavers,

they were not overly concerned about the risk of getting trapped. John and his brother Josh chose to delve deeper into the cave to investigate a section known as 'The Birth Canal'.

This route was considered extremely challenging, requiring one to navigate through a lengthy, narrow passage that eventually led to a large cavernous area, reports the Mirror US. Article

continues below The siblings ventured along the path, encountering a particularly narrow crevice. John, leading the way, began to squeeze further into the passage, unaware that he was

inching towards his demise at 26. They had mistakenly deviated from the entrance to the Birth Canal and were now navigating an uncharted section of the cave. Oblivious to their misdirection,

John continued forward, under the impression he was still in the Birth Canal. Eventually, he stumbled upon a vertical fissure in the rock. The caver assumed this gap led to a cavern where

he could manoeuvre himself around. To inspect the crevice, he drew in his chest, sliding his torso over a ledge of rock and down into the 10-inch-wide side of the crack. As John exhaled and

his chest expanded, the six-foot-tall, 200lbs man found himself wedged tight. His predicament worsened when he tried to extricate himself and slid further into the hole. John was now trapped

upside-down in a space measuring just 10 by 18 inches wide - a gap smaller than the opening of a front-loading washing machine. Josh soon discovered his brother's plight and quickly

grasped the severity of the situation. He was horrified to find only John's feet protruding, with the rest of his body headfirst down the narrow crevice. Josh recounted the harrowing

incident to local press, detailing how John had been 'swallowed' by the rock and emphasising that 'it was really serious'. After futile attempts to extricate his brother,

Josh ascended to the surface to seek assistance, quickly amassing a sizeable group of volunteers, including some professionals. A local rescue volunteer promptly reached John. Initially,

she anticipated a swift extraction, but the severity of the situation soon became apparent. The confined angle and narrowness of the cave presented no straightforward means of manoeuvring

John's body out of the crevice. In the ensuing hours, the team brainstormed solutions, with emergency services personnel joining their ranks. United in their efforts, they raced against

the clock to liberate the trapped caver from his underground confinement. Proposed strategies included lubricating the walls and chipping away at the rock - however, the hardness of the

surrounding material and the awkward positioning made drilling a slow process. The rescuers also had to exercise caution not to exert undue pressure on John, who could potentially feel the

ongoing operations. Ultimately, the team settled on a plan to hoist John to safety using an intricate system of ropes and pulleys. They fastened the devices around his feet with the

intention to haul him out. However, this strategy took hours to execute, further complicated by the cave's narrowness which allowed only one person to directly access John at any given

time. John was now finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. Being trapped upside down for hours had caused the blood that usually flowed to his feet to rush to his head instead. His

heart rate had doubled in an attempt to counteract gravity and keep the blood from pooling in his brain. Despite this, his chances of escape seemed promising. Gradually, John was being

hoisted out of his underground trap. He managed to maintain communication with his wife through a two-way radio that had been passed down to him. At one point, he'd been raised high

enough to lock eyes with the nearest rescuer who asked: 'How are you?' In response, the trapped man said: 'It sucks. I'm upside down. I can't believe I'm upside

down'. 'My legs are killing me,' John added. Just as John was almost free, the rescue team decided to take a brief pause. However, the ordeal was far from over. As they

resumed their efforts, calamity struck. A pulley affixed to the wall came loose, momentarily knocking out one of the rescuers and causing John to plummet deeper into the crevice. All hope

seemed lost when attempts to secure a new rope around John's leg nearly resulted in another rescuer getting stuck. After enduring 27 hours in the hole, John became unresponsive, leading

the group to fear the worst. One of the rescuers managed to get close enough to John to check his vital signs, only to deliver the heartbreaking news that his body temperature was nearing

that of the cave's rocky walls. His findings were relayed to a paramedic who, upon reaching John, tragically confirmed his death. The cause of death was determined as cardiac arrest and

suffocation. It quickly became apparent that it was too risky to attempt to retrieve John's body. To prevent future accidents, the entrance to the passage was intentionally collapsed

using explosives and subsequently filled with concrete. "Once John had been declared dead, there were discussions about 'How do we get him out?' There were some rather

distasteful discussions as well, things that nobody really wanted to do," Sgt Spencer Cannon recalled from the incident. "Ultimately the decision was made that it was too much risk

for the rescuers to remain there in an effort to get him out and the decision was made to leave him in place." The closure of Nutty Putty faced opposition from some cavers, leading to

a failed petition to save the system. In 2016, the tragic event was dramatised in a film titled 'The Last Descent'. When it became public knowledge that the remains could not be

retrieved, the cave's entrance transformed into an impromptu memorial for the family. A plaque was also installed in memory of John, who left behind his wife Emily and their baby

daughter Lizzie. Article continues below At the time of the tragic incident, Emily was pregnant with their second child and the following year, a baby boy arrived, who was christened with

his father's name.