Utah County, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Disappointment and disheartened, that's how the Utah County Sheriff is describing the feelings of dozens of rescuers after sharing the news their attempt to pull a 26-year-old Tooele County native out of a cave in western Utah County failed. A spokesperson for the Utah County Sheriff's Office announced the death of John Jones shortly before midnight.
Just after 11 am Thursday the sheriff's office called off the recovery effort for Jones body for the day. Officials said some rescuers had been working for 27 hours straight and they were concerned for their safety. The sheriff's office also told ABC 4 they needed to talk to the family before deciding how to proceed.
Rescuers from several agencies had been working for more than 24 hours to free Jones from a narrow passage inside the Nutty Putty Cave. Jones became trapped nearly upside down in the cave late Tuesday.
Rescuers say they were making progress late Wednesday, but then a piece of equipment being used to help pull Jones from the cave failed, dropping him back into the original stuck position. A Utah County Sheriff's spokesman tells ABC News that Jones then began having difficulty breathing and communicating.
Jones was back in Utah visiting relatives in Stansbury Park. The Sheriff's Office says it'll be back out at the cave Thanksgiving morning to retrieve Jones' body.
Note: All photos are courtesy of the Utah County Sheriff's Department. They show only the rescue workers in Nutty Putty Cave.
