Rescuers working to free man stuck upside down 700 feet below ground in narrow Utah cave

Search crew working to free man stuck in cave

SALT LAKE CITY — Rescue crews scrambled Thursday to free a man stuck upside-down in a popular Utah cave for well over 24 hours.

John Jones, 26, of Stansbury Park, became stuck about 700 feet into the narrow cave, known as Nutty Putty, at about 9 p.m. Tuesday while spelunking with a group of about 11 people, according to the Utah County sheriff’s department.

He was still wedged in at 1 a.m. Thursday and rescuers were working through the night to free him, said Sgt. Spencer Cannon.

“As long as he’s still in there, we’ll have people trying to get him out,” Cannon told The Associated Press.

He said as many as 50 rescuers were on the scene about 80 miles south of Salt Lake City and several of them were down in the cave near Jones.

The crevice where Jones is trapped, with his head below his feet, is about 150 feet below ground in an L-shaped area of the cave known as “Bob’s Push,” which is only about 18 inches wide and 10 inches high, Cannon said.

The process was slow Wednesday with rescuers chipping away with air-powered tools in the arrow tunnel.

At one point late in the afternoon, Jones was freed from the crevice, only to fall back several feet into the tight space when a cord that was supporting him failed, Cannon said

Rescuers were able to get him food and water during that temporary freedom. But by early Thursday morning, he had been stuck in the cave for well over 24 hours, and rescue crews remained uncertain how long it would take to get him out.

“He’s not in great shape,” Cannon told The Salt Lake Tribune.

Cannon said Jones is about six feet tall and weighs between 180 and 200 pounds.

Niki Yeaton, clinical nurse coordinator for University Hospital’s emergency department, said anyone who has been upside down as long as Jones could suffer from a rush of blood to the head that leads to confusion and nausea, and possibly passing out.

Nutty Putty cave is actually a hole on the top of hill about seven miles west of State Road 68. The naturally formed thermal cave is about 1,500 feet long. Its multiple, tunnels and passageways lead to room-like openings, a Web site for Utah cave-enthusiasts explains.

According to the official Nutty Putty cave Web site, the area was first discovered in 1960. The cave is privately owned by Utah’s State Institutional Trust Land Administration. An access pass is required to explore the cave, with usage restricted to about six groups daily.

The county’s last rescue there was in 2004.

Cannon said officials considered closing the tunnel or sealing it off after the last rescue but ultimately decided to erect a gate that requires a key for entry.

“We’ve had people stuck in this exact same spot. We’re working and working to get him undone out of the spot and we don’t really have any way of predicting what’s gonna happen until — boom, all the sudden they’re out,” he said.