A young caver enthusiast got stuck in a tight passage in a cave he wanted to explore with his brother. The operation to rescue the young man, John Jones, lasted a full 27 hours. The chilling experiences of the young man, who remained trapped in the tunnel inside the cave, unable to extract his body, in his final 27 hours sent shivers down the spine. Following what is considered one of the most tragic cave accidents in history, the cave was closed off to all entrances, becoming a memorial for the young father who was a medical student.
Passionate explorer John Edward Jones spent over 24 hours trapped in a hydrothermal cave in Utah called the “Nutty Putty Cave,” before eventually passing away on November 24, 2009.
What began as a fun caving experience turned into a harrowing 27-hour ordeal involving 137 search and rescue workers.
Attempting to explore the extremely narrow “Birth Canal” section of the cave with his brother and nine friends, a wrong turn led Jones to accidentally wedge his head into a small passage.
Jones continued to wriggle deeper into the crack in hopes of reaching an opening, unaware that he was crawling towards what would later be described as “the worst imaginable death.” The spot where he got stuck was nearly the width of a washing machine’s mouth but not a perfect circular shape. John was wedged in the narrowest part of this opening.
Susie Motola, a woman involved in the rescue operation to save Jones, conveyed that the young man had come to accept the chilling reality that he would never be able to leave the cave. When John saw Susie, he initially expressed gratitude, saying, “Hi Susie, thanks for coming, but I really, really want to get out.”
However, panic set in as the young man began to realize with devastating clarity, “I’m going to die right here. I can’t get out of here, can I?” Following the 27-hour claustrophobic nightmare, it was announced that Jones had suffered a heart attack and passed away.
John tragically lost his life at the young age of 26 due to this sensational and tragic incident.
The Nutty Putty Cave was eventually sealed off and has since become a memorial for the medical student and young father. However, because rescue teams were unable to reach Jones, they decided it was too risky and difficult to retrieve his body, bidding farewell to John on his eternal journey in the cave.