Salt Lake City, Utah, November 24, 2009.
News cameras broadcast live a rescue mission they never imagined they would ever do in life.
A 26-year-old father of two trapped inside a cave, called Nutty Putty. Upside down, about 150-feet deep.
It was a 27-hour ordeal and 137 volunteers worked through the day and night to rescue the poor man, an experienced caveman himself.
He lost consciousness and died of cardiac arrest. RIP!
John Edward Jones died leaving behind his wife Emily, a young daughter and a baby boy on the way (he’s named John).
Despite efforts, his body couldn’t be retrieved. The cave is now a memorial to Jones. So sad.
What happened? Read on.
Discovered in 1960, Nutty Putty Cave was a local favorite, attracting 5,000 visitors a year.
The tunnel, measuring 10 by 18 inches (25 by 46 cm), is 150 feet deep. The tight squeezes inside the cave are called “The Helmet Eater,” “The Scout Eater” and “The Birth Canal.”
From 1999 to 2004, six people were rescued stuck in those narrow passages.
The cave was limestone and the walls were strangely viscous clay. Nothing holds on as the clay will change from a solid to an elastic fluid when pressure is applied.
Jones died a sad death as the pulley system employed didn’t help. They came off the wall easily, injuring the rescue crew themselves.
Records say the authorities closed the cave in 2006, fearing safety concerns. But, after an agreement with the local rescue agencies, the management decided to reopen it for visitors in 2009.
They set up an online reservation system by which they allowed only one set of people at a time, and they monitored the visitors.
The cave was shut at night.
Richard Downey, was a treasurer and historian, and he led some of the Boy Scout trips into Nutty Putty for decades.
He says a lot of people going to Nutty Putty were first-timers, or they were on a date with their girlfriends.
They put themselves in situations that they probably wouldn’t have if they had just stopped and thought about it for a minute, he says.
That’s when Jones decided to visit the ill-fated cave with brother Josh and 11 others.
Who thought a happy occasion for a family would end in tragedy?
Visitors to Nutty Putty cave today will only find a plaque dedicated to Jones.
PS: as a tribute to the tragic death of Jones a movie by the name The Last Descent was made in 2016.
Source: https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/nutty-putty-cave.htm
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