Who: 26-year-old John Jones
Where: Nutty Putty cave, Utah
His mistake: He ventured into an area where he shouldn’t have been
What happened: A man was caving with 11 other family members and friends in the Nutty Putty cave, Utah. Children in the group along with some other adults decided to explore the wider, safer areas of the cave while a small group ventured deeper into less-explored areas.
The man got to an L-shape area known as Bob’s Push which measured about 18 inches wide by 10 inches high. The area is 700 feet underground. While navigating the area, the man became wedged in a crevice and was unable to free him. Other members of the group tried to free him, but the man was stuck with his feet in the air.
Rescue was called to free the 6-foot-tall, 190-pounder. More than 50 rescuers responded to the scene. They used air-powered tools to try and chip away at the rock around him. At one point, they were able to free him and raise him to give the man food and water. But a rope that was holding the man up snapped and sent him back down and wedged him back into the hole.
After he got stuck again, the man’s condition began to deteriorate. He was unable to maintain consciousness and had difficulty breathing. After more than one day of rescue efforts, the man died. Recovery efforts are delayed until the next day, and a coroner is going to perform an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
Read the story here.
A few more details/corrections, mostly from Bogley Outdoor Community , which includes some links to photos of victim and family as well as rescue photos. The reason he fell back down wasn’t because a rope snapped, but because an anchor pulled (rock failure). Sheriff dept. says anchor system was redundant, but the exact failure mode hasn’t been described yet so it isn’t clear how (if) a single anchor failure could lead to system failure. They’re now going to close the cave permanently due to this tragic incident.
They cannot recover the body and will leave him entombed there by sealing off the cave to anyone. He will get a memorial of some kind at the entrance.