Featured Image Credit: Family Handout
Topics: TV and Film, US News
Anish Vij
A terrifying image shows the grim reality of a father who suffered the ‘worst death imaginable’.
Spelunker John Edward Jones ventured inside Nutty Putty Cave in Utah, US, with his brother Josh to an area dubbed the ‘birth canal’.
The 26-year-old medical student - who was with three others - went off with his brother Josh to the ‘birth canal’, a tight passageway with a turnaround at the end.
But because part of the cave was still unmapped Jones went through the wrong entrance.
His failed attempt at getting through the 'birth canal’ meant that he was stuck in a horrific upside down position.
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The 'L-shaped pinpoint' was only 10 inches across and 18 inches high, as the dad-of-one’s fatal mistake was believing he could fit through.
Unfortunately, each time Jones breathed and his chest expanded, it further wedged him inside the tight space with little chance of escaping.
Despite Josh's attempt to try and pull him out, Jones only became further wedged in.
The brother had no choice but to leave him behind and crawl to the surface to call for help.
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The Utah County Sheriff’s Office later arrived with rescuers on hand in attempt to free Jones.
"It's very narrow, very awkward, and it's difficult to get rescuers down there," rescuer Shawn Roundy informed the media at the time, adding that Jones was located in ‘absolutely the worst spot in the cave’.
Although they tried power tools and a pulley system to try and get him out, the attempts to rescue Jones ultimately failed and he tragically died in the cave, where his body is still said to remain, more than 10 years after the tragedy.
Following his death on Thanksgiving on 24 November, 2009, the location where his body remains has since been declared a hazard and was sealed shut.
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A film based on the story of Jones and the attempts to rescue him called The Last Descent was released in 2016 starring Chadwick Hopson Jones as John, alongside Jacob Omer as Josh.
Below is a jarring projection of the position Jones was most likely stuck in:
Jones' wife, Emily Jones Sanchez, who was pregnant at the time of his death, told Desert News: “I can say that I know for sure, without a doubt, I know there is life after death.
“I know John is still alive. I know because I’ve been able to talk to him since he died, and I’ve had several experiences where the veil has been thin, and I’ve had these sacred moments where I don’t understand everything and my faith is not perfect, but I know he’s out there, and I know there’s life after death.”