Hodgson said he was proud of the Herculean effort of rescuers, many of whom are suffering emotionally as a result of the outcome. “We’ve suffered a tragedy in this cave that we hope to prevent from happening again,” he said. Rescues of people in the cave or those who get lost looking for the cave have been a big drain on resources, with this rescue the most difficult experience Hodgson said he had ever dealt with in his career.
There have been five high-profile rescues in the last 10 years, including a teenager who was stuck in the same area as Jones, but four to six feet closer to the entrance. However, there was no question what had to be done. Tom Hodgson said it was a difficult decision for all parties to seal the cave. “It is a place to honor and respect our brother,” Josh Jones said. Now, when the cave is sealed off, it will be safe for others and provide a place to remember Jones. This was not an isolated incident, he said, as several others have been trapped in the cave in the past. John Jones would not want to inhibit adventure, his brother said, but he would want to protect others from the tragedy that could occur in Nutty Putty. “We just want to thank the rescue workers,” he said.Īs an adventurous family, Josh Jones said, they understand how others may feel they are losing the opportunity to explore Nutty Putty Cave.
#JOHN JONES NUTTY PUTTY CAVE FREE#
He said he knows some rescuers may feel they have failed the family, but family members know workers did everything they could to free their son and brother. Josh Jones, John Jones’s younger brother, offered a statement of gratitude to rescue workers. The crevice is not named, mainly because it is too small for most cavers to reach and map. The area he was stuck in was an offshoot from the main path on the southeast side at the end of the cave. Jones became trapped in the cave around 8:45 p.m. “It will be, as they described it, a sacred place to them,” Cannon said. An important point for family and rescuers is that Jones’s resting place remain undisturbed. Officials from several agencies will meet Monday morning to discuss the best way to seal the cave, and a uniformed deputy will be guarding the entrance until the cave has been permanently closed. Though plans have not been finalized on how the cave will be closed, officials say there will be a spot reserved for Jones’s family to erect a memorial for him. “With that in mind it has been decided that the cave will be permanently closed to all access.”
“Because of where he is located in the cave and the danger involved in accessing that area, we have determined that the risk involved in removing John from the cave is too high,” said Utah County sheriff’s Sgt. Officials announced Friday afternoon that the cave will be permanently closed and sealed, and rescue workers will no longer attempt to remove Jones’s body. The Nutty Putty Cave, where John Edward Jones spent the last nearly 28 hours of his life, will also be his final resting place.
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