Body of trapped Utah spelunker won't be recovered

I went caving once. ONLY once. It was a great way to learn how to rappel (down 80 foot shafts), and how to use ascenders to work my way UP those 80 foot shafts. I listened to the little voice in my head when the rest of my group decided to do a low crawl in a narrow section of the cave. I started to go through it, but then backed out. My sense of self preservation kicked in, and I chickened out. No big loss. I could probably have fit through it OK, but don't like tight squeezes.

In the case of the 26 year old Utah caver (a 2nd year med student), he was seeking adventure. He went exploring in a less traveled section of the cave, and apparently became stuck in a narrow passage, head down. He leaves a pregnant wife and child behind.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...PP0uwD9C86QD00

SPANISH FORK, Utah — The popular Utah cave where a 26-year-old medical student died earlier in the week will be closed permanently and his body will not be removed, state and county officials said Friday.
Any effort to recover John Jones' body from the cramped underground chute where he became stuck with his head at an angle below his feet Tuesday night would simply be too dangerous, they said.
"If we put other people in that same location, they could get stuck or get hurt," said Lt. John Valentine with Utah County search and rescue.
Jones, of Stansbury Park, died just before midnight Wednesday — about 28 hours after getting wedged into a tight, unmapped passage of Nutty Putty Cave. Workers had tried feverishly to free him from the underground chute about 100 feet below the surface and about 400 feet from the cave's entrance.
Jones was trapped headfirst in a vertical shaft about 18 inches wide and 10 inches high. The 1,500-foot Nutty Putty cave is south of Salt Lake City.


Another website gives some info about how the caver was almost rescued, but the rock holding an anchor in place gave way, sending the poor guy head first back down into the passage.


http://www.sltrib.com/ci_13873501?so...2987EAE1F.html

John Edward Jones, 26, was briefly freed from an opening in Nutty Putty Cave, but slipped back in when an anchor in the cave wall, which was attached to a system of ropes and pulleys being used to pull him out, came free from the rock, said Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Cannon.


Nasty...very nasty.