Man trapped in Utah cave dies in rescue attempt

John Edward Jones, 26, died during a rescue attempt at Nutty Putty cave in Utah, 28 hours after he first became trapped.

According to CNN, Jones died at approximately 12:30 am, after becoming stuck in a crevice that was about 18? wide by 10? deep. Rescuers worked on freeing the young man for more than 24 hours, but equipment failure caused some difficulty in the rescue attempt, according to Sgt. Spencer Cannon:

“They had him to a level spot where he wasn’t heading downhill with his head below his feet,” Cannon said. “During the course of that, they have a raising system to hold him in position, and one of the devices of that system failed, and Mr. Jones actually fell back to the area where he had been stuck for so long.”

Before Jones died, Sgt. Cannon commented on the difficulties faced in extricating the man from the cave:

“Getting people to him is very difficult,” Cannon told KSL before Jones died. “It is a tightly confined space. When there is movement, it is literally millimeters at a time.”

Around 5,000 people visit the cave 28 miles west of Salt Lake City every year.