The day was November 24, 2009, around 9 a.m., when John entered the Nutty Putty cave in the state of Utah, along with his brother Josh and several other friends.
On entering the group was exploring a part of the cave known as The Big Slide, so they split up, John’s intention was to explore the regions considered more dangerous.
John was looking for a part called The Birth Canal. He thought he had found it, so he went deeper and deeper into the narrow. However, it was an unexplored and unmapped region. In addition, John was upside down, which would become a major problem in the rescue.
When he realized he could no longer go back, and the only movement he could make was forward, until he got stuck and could no longer make movements in any direction.
At that moment John, who is 6 feet tall and weighs 190 pounds, was stuck in a hole 10 inches wide and 18 inches high. His brother arrived a little later, tried to help him at that moment, but it was in vain. He then went to call for help.
The rescue attempts
The rescue teams, totaling about 50 people, arrived quickly, but it took several hours to find him in the maze of the cave, as he was almost 400 feet from the entrance.
After much study of the situation, with the aid of ropes and pulleys, the rescue team secured John’s legs and began to perform the movement to lift him. They managed to lift for a few meters until a pulley broke. It was only a short time before John was able to escape the most difficult part of the cave.
The operation in total lasted 26 hours, until John died. The teams had difficulty keeping him conscious and breathing. Because he was upside down, his heart and lung began to fail, leading to cardiac arrest. Had he not been in such a disadvantageous position, probably with more time to work the rescue teams would have been successful.
After his death, they concluded that it would be too dangerous to try to recover his body, so the cave owner and John’s family came to an agreement that the cave would be permanently closed with the body inside, with a memorial to John.
Explosives were used to bring down the ceiling near Jones’ body. The entrance hole was filled with concrete to prevent further access, and the family placed a headstone in his memory.
John was married to Emily, the couple had one child and his wife was pregnant with another baby. At the age of 26, he was studying medicine at the University of Virginia. Today Emily is married to Donovan Sanchez, with whom she had another child. She was carried down the aisle by John’s father. The families still talk and are friends.
I can’t understand why men, or women who have families with children who depend on them choose to engage in such dangerous activities.
My neighbor had a severely disabled son, a 3 yr. old and a baby on the way when her thrill seeking adrenaline junkie husband broke his neck jumping and flipping dirt bikes.
He died a month after his accident which was a completely unnecessary activity.
Such a shame
I don’t understand why people who can’ t empathize with the choices of others feel the need to berate the posthumously
Hello Braden, Maria is not berating John Edward Jones. I’m sure Maria also feels very sad that this unfortunate thing happened to John. She is using what is referred to as common sense. Maria’s comments about the incident are not designed to criticize John, but rather to warn other people that if you have important responsibilities in life, like having a wife and children to raise, do not take necessary chances and venture into dangerous situations and otherwise do your best to make certain that you keep your life safe so that you can continue to take care of that wife and those children. Thank you Maria for your wise advice.
Your comment about what Maria wrote demonstrates your youth and inexperience in life. When you are older and have had more experience
You will think differently about Maria’s comment and know that she is not berating John, but rather is hoping others will learn from John’s unfortunate experience.
You only live once. Do most out of your life, not hide in safety to breath longer. Life is what it is, you don’t know when it’s your time anyway, no matter how safe you live you will DIE in the end. I think both Maria and Richard are wrong. Richard sounds like a “douchebag who think of himself as god, everyone else is wrong attitude”
Richard and Martin you guys are both stupid douchef@gs
Perfectly well said. Youth,
inexperience, machismo, ignorance, selfishness, and a plethora of others are all at play when people make comments to the contrary. You can enjoy your life without crawling upside down into a hole from which you can’t escape. When you have others to consider, you DO THAT, you consider how your actions would affect them, that didn’t really seem to happen here, and for what? This is a great, yet very sad lesson for others.
* Hopefully the would-be’s .. wannabe’s ..
will get the message
Some of us like to live life, not sleep through it.
Right these ppl are a trip
Then don’t marry …or takeout enough insurance to care for your family until your children are grown. As a single mom I gave up things I did before i married and had kids. I waited until they were teens before skiing, horseback riding, ice skating, mountain climbing, etc. I did many things before marriage and after divorce and raising children I worked and raised children before returning to anything that took away from my responsibilities to my kids.
If you don’t want to stop playing… don’t marry or have kids!
Do you ride in cars ??? Have you flown in airplanes ??? Death doesn’t care if you’re married with children , accidents happen and they can take anyone
Like sleeping in a cave forever?
dumbass
This guy was a complete moron. He had plenty of signs telling him that he was going down the wrong artery. He ignored a little voice in his head telling him to go back. If he was so close to the spirit why didn’t he listen to the HG telling him he was in grave danger!? John was an idiot, he left his children fatherless because he thought he was invincible. Darwins principle in action.
So you were there ?
Just because you are married doesn’t mean you cant live your life.
Why should anyone miss out on what they love to do ,are you saying be married and have no hobbies? Should you sit and twiddle your thumbs and miss out?
Most of your negative comments no sense..
That makes you a selfish moron.
Naive dude ruined a natural cave for everyone… Don’t be like this guy
John’s and Emily’s families provide the greatest example for all of us. they demonstrate love and understanding despite this terrible tragedy. they accepted reality as it was. they didn’t judge who was right or wrong, or who made a mistake. they didn’t call anyone a douche bag or criticize. they are indeed an example for everyone.
Then don’t take on others who depend on you.
. One of the reasons I stayed single.