WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT John Jones, 26, endured what has been described as a horrific death after spending over 24 hours stuck upside down in a minuscule space in Utah’s Nutty Putty Cave
No one should ever be faced with such a decision, but for the rescuers trying to save a cave explorer, it was a matter of life and death.
John Jones suffered what has been described as the most horrific death imaginable when he became trapped upside down in a tiny, confined cave for over 24 hours.
The rescue team was confronted with a difficult decision: attempt to save his life, knowing it would cause him immense pain.
Brandon Kowallis was the last person to see the young man before his tragic end after becoming stuck upside down inside a cave. The details of that night continue to haunt him.
At the tender age of 26, John Jones lost his life after being trapped for more than 24 hours in Utah’s Nutty Putty Cave in 2009 – but he wasn’t alone.
A committed team of rescuers, including Brandon, worked relentlessly to try to save him.
As a fellow cave explorer and avid YouTuber, Brandon did everything in his power to free John from his predicament and help him escape the cave, but it was no easy task.
He has since spoken out about the agonising decision he had to make as a last-ditch effort to save John’s life in a blog post.
In a post detailing the incident, the rescuer describes the mission on that tragic day of 15 November 2009. Upon reaching the cave to find an upside-down, unconscious John, he recognised the situation was going “quickly downhill”.
He explained: “It looked like he could only be lifted another foot or two in his current position because of where the webbing was anchored around his knees. After a foot or two, he would hit the ceiling. And then once he reached the ceiling, there was no way to tilt him to a horizontal position.”
There was no way to change his position, as John would need to haul himself up using his own strength, but by this point, he was unconscious.
In a desperate attempt to save him, the emergency teams considered a horrifying plan involving a jackhammer to widen the tunnel, though it would inflict catastrophic injuries.
During this process, the rescuer acknowledges John would have suffered serious lacerations and numerous fractures but it represented the only opportunity to save his life.
However, Brandon recalls exactly how difficult this operation proved after hours of hammering and chipping away at the rock.
In his blog, he outlined his predictions, suggesting it could take anywhere from ‘three to seven days’ to free John from the cave, a timeframe they simply didn’t have.
Before this, the caver recalled the dire condition John was in, writing: “He was in and out of consciousness and had started talking about seeing angels and demons around him.”
When he reached into the cave, he found a man making disturbing gurgling noises as fluid built up in his lungs, whilst his legs were twitching uncontrollably.
Despite their best efforts, Brandon and the other rescuers continued working through the night, knowing they risked breaking his bones, but it wasn’t enough to save him.
When they went in to check on him, he was pronounced dead at around 11:52pm, having died from cardiac arrest and suffocation.
The 26 year old medical student left behind his devoted wife, Emily, who was pregnant at the time of his death. The baby was named in his honour, and went on to become the younger brother to his daughter Lizzie.