Jones, his wife Emily and their 13-month-old daughter had come home to Utah for the Thanksgiving holiday and to share the news that another baby is expected in June.įamily said they knew Jones fought to survive throughout the rescue effort and was commended by rescue crews for “his remarkable good spirits and resilience to the end.”Īt one point Wednesday, workers had moved Jones roughly 12 feet out of a tight 18-by-10 inch crevice, far enough to give him some food and water. George native was attending medical school at the University of Virginia, hoping to pursue a career as pediatric cardiologist. “He head explored many caves and maneuvered is way through many tight spaces before,” the family said in a statement issued late Thursday.įor the past two years, the St. The Jones group of 11 explorers, including some of his four brothers, met all three of those criteria, Leavitt said. Tuesday in an L-shaped area of the cave known as “Bob’s Push.” The area is only about 18 inches wide and 10 inches high.Įxploring Nutty Putty, which is privately owned by Utah’s State Institutional Trust Land Administration, requires reservations, an access pass and, for safety reasons, either caving experience or an experienced guide. The 6-foot-tall, 190-pound Jones got stuck with his head at an angle below his feet about 9 p.m.
On Thursday, rescuers suspended efforts to recover his body as they considered the options to do so, Utah County sheriff’s office Sgt.
#NUTTY PUTTY FREE#
On Wednesday, rescue teams used drilling equipment, rope and a pulley system to try to free Jones, to no avail. It was the first known fatality since cavers began exploring the 1,500-foot cave’s narrow passageways in the 1960s, cave access manager Michael Leavitt said. John Jones, 26, of Stansbury Park, died nearly 28 hours after he got stuck upside-down in Nutty Putty Cave, a popular spelunking site south of Salt Lake City. A medical student who died Thursday after a daylong effort to rescue him 150 feet underground was an outdoors lover and experienced caver who was expecting the birth of his second child next year, officials and family members said.