Below is a trip report from a member of the caving group. Note that after an hour of just 2 people trying to help the victim, all but one decided to return to the surface to sing church hymns, ( I presume Mormon hymns. ), while they waited for rescuers to show up.
Also, note that only two cavers on the trip were skinny enough to be in the passage, and could not reach the victim. The kids or teens were apparently not qualified to go into the squeeze to help. __________________________________________________ Nutty Putty Cave Trip Report I am almost 26 years old ..... This morning I am grieving the loss of John Jones. Someone who I knew for only a couple of hours, but who is someone I feel very close to now ..... I was part of 11 people who went to the Nutty Putty Cave on November 24th, 2009, just two days ago. I was invited by a great friend and old roommate, Josh Jones, to come along with he and a few family members. I have gone on several caving expeditions with Josh and thought it would be an enjoyable new cave to visit. When we entered the cave Josh, John, Jessica (friend of Josh), and I went first, while two other adults and four teenagers followed behind. The cave is a geothermal hotspot and so it is very warm and moist in there. Because of this it was a little more difficult to breath, but also nice because it was around 30 degree Fahrenheit above ground. [ My comment: 30 degree Fahrenheit is warm ? Did he mean Celsius ? ] We had a map of the cave and got to a part where we couldn't find where it continued, so we each took a route that looked like it could be the right way. It is this part of the story that I keep recalling over and over in my head, because at this point I asked John if he wanted to explore the spot, which we later would learn is called the "Ed's Push" area. [ My comment: Maybe it was called "Bob's Push" ? ] John went in to the spot face first because he was climbing up, but then it curved and started heading downwards, then it got too small for him to push himself backwards up against gravity, so he slid down further and became wedged. We didn't know he was stuck for several minutes. [ My comment: This explains why the rescue was so difficult ] Jessica and I waited for Josh to get out of a hole that he was exploring. When Josh did, we told him (without much thought) to go in and see if John needed help. Meanwhile Jessica and I explored two other spots where the cave could have continued. [ My comment: Why did they go off caving somewhere when their buddy was alone and possibly in a precarious situation ? Would the end result have differed, had they acted then ? Would experienced cavers done that ? Would experienced cavers have recognized a need at that moment for a cave rescue ? ] The rest of the group joined us at this point. We could not find where the cave continued, so sat waiting near the area. After about 15 minutes I hollered to Josh if things were okay. He came out in a mix of calm and panic and said he was going to go up and call for help and asked that I go in a comfort John and maybe try to help, because I was the only "adult" that would fit. [ My comment: This clearly shows the victim chose to go head first down a dangerous tight vertical squeeze when the rest of his group was not qualified to assist him. ] [ Also, at this point the group still does not sense the danger ] So I crawled in above John (it was a very tight spot and I often would panic because it was difficult to move) and John and I tried several things to move him up. I did the best I could to keep him in good spirits by giving him little goals to reach. Mike, John's brother, was outside of the tight spot talking to me, which I much appreciated because it helped keep my spirits up. But after an hour I was becoming tired and scraped up and started to get psychologically messed up. I crawled out and Josh crawled in to see what he could do. I crawled out of the cave and joined everyone else outside of the cave. [ My comment: Clearly the author of the report, did everything in his means to save the life of Mr. Jones. ] They had all been gathered around the entrance praying and singing church hymns. The search and rescue vehicles started to show up and we decided we needed to get the teenagers home. And we felt there was nothing we could do but get in the way, so a group of us left, leaving Josh and Mike and another brother-in-law with John. [ My comment: Wouldn't it have been better to at least form a human chain and try to pull on him. Did they not have any kind of rope available to try something. Not even a handline ? ] [ My comment: Was it right for the caving group not to assist the rescuers ? ] For the next 27 hours I followed the news closely and waited... Then at 2:36 a.m. I received a text from my friend Josh with the unexpected news that John had passed away. [ My note: I left out the rest of the story, which was religious in nature, and explained how they were dealing with this death from a spiritual perspective. ] ____________________________________________ My question is what is their definition of a "caving expedition?" Other question: After Josh returned to the surface to call 911, did he rush back to the victim to stay with him until the rescuers arrived ? That is what it sounds like and is most probable. It sounds like Josh did everything on earth to save his brother. Here was a new story on the web today: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=8892976 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
