‘I tried to save caver from ‘worst death imaginable’ – here’s why I couldn’t save him’

'It looked very bleak. I wondered if it was even possible to get him beyond this point.'

26-year-old John Edward Jones passed away after taking a wrong turn in ‘Nutty Putty’ that led him to become trapped upside down. 

John was described to have “essentially crawled into his own grave” before enduring 27 hours of anguish.

The 2009 incident is remembered as “one of the most horrifying deaths imaginable.” 

Despite his brother Josh being just metres away, he was unable to save him. 

At the time, Josh told the Sake Lake Tribune: “The way we spoke. It felt like John knew what the score was.”

“There was this, ‘I’m not getting him out.’ I don’t know how anyone is getting him out.”

When it became clear to his family that John was trapped in the 10 inch by 18 inch passageway, they chose to contact rescue services. 

The man at the head of the operation to save the spelunker has now spoken out about the ordeal. 

The team involved attempted every rescue technique at their disposal. 

After attempts to drill through the rock proved ineffective, the team attempted to lubricate the walls in the hope that John would be able to slide out, but this too failed to bring about a positive outcome. 

They landed on a method to use a series of rope pulleys to drag the diver out by his feet. 

This began to work initially, bringing John to the very verge of the crevice before something went horribly wrong. 

The rescuers lost control of the rope as one of the pulleys collapsed and John began to plunge deeper into the depths of the cave than he had started. 

By this point, John had been trapped for more than 25 hours, and his body was beginning to show signs. 

He was unresponsive to the team of rescuers. 

Brandon Kowallis was the first cave diver to arrive to try and help John and later became the last person to speak with him. 

In a new blog post, he has discussed the failed mission to rescue John.

Kowallis said: “As I wormed my way in I felt my feet touch something soft which ended up being John’s feet. I felt them move and immediately lifted my feet and worked my way horizontally into the crack.

“After stabilising myself by jamming my body into a narrower section of the crack I began speaking to John asking him how he was and introducing myself. There was no response.

“I shifted my position a little and tapped him on the leg. I could hear him breathing a deep, gurgling breath, as though his lungs were filling with fluid.

“Then his feet shifted as though he were trying to manoeuvre his legs out of the crack he was jammed in.

“The kicking looked fairly frantic and after a second he stopped and it looked as though he had drifted into unconsciousness.

“I continued tapping him on the legs and hip to see if I could get a response, but there was no response.

“From there, I spent a few minutes studying the passage, the positioning of John, and the rig that was set up, to see how we could get him out from here. It looked very bleak. I wondered if it was even possible to get him beyond this point.

“There was a request to take the radio down to John so that his family could say some words to him. I think it was his father, mother, and wife who spoke to him, telling him that they loved him and were praying for him and that his father had given him a blessing. His wife mentioned a feeling of peace, that everything would be OK. She talked to him about 5 to 10 minutes before I told her that we needed to get back to working at getting him out.

“At that point I decided to try using the jack hammer. So we waited for it to arrive and then I carried it down to where John was located. The tool was much heavier than I anticipated and to hold it up while wedging my body in the crack took everything I had. Even then, I couldn’t get a good angle on the rock because of the confined space and limitations in my own mobility and positioning.

“Even if we could get him into a horizontal position, he would then have to manoeuvre the most difficult sections of the passage he was trapped in. 

“If he were conscious and had his full strength there was a minute chance he could possibly do it. But even if that was the case it looked grim.

“I didn’t hear a distinct heartbeat, only some ruffling, fluttering sounds that were probably a result of me shaking as I tried to steady myself in an awkward location. I then jammed my hand between the rock and pressed as far up his torso I could go to feel for breathing. I didn’t think I felt anything.

“I reported my findings to the paramedic above and then crawled out so that he could see if he could squeeze in.

“He was able to get down to the point where he could feel his feet and confirm he had passed away. John Edward Jones was pronounced dead at 11.52.”

After John’s death was officially confirmed, it was still deemed too dangerous to recover his body, and the passageway was blocked off through a controlled explosion. 

Nutty Putty was eventually closed off to cave divers and the entrance of the cave now holds a plaque in memory of John Edward Jones.