The chilling last words of the man who had 'the worst death imaginable'
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: Family Handout /YouTube/CBG
A man who became trapped in a cave in what many would describe as an utter nightmare had some chilling last words before his life came to an abrupt end.
The caver came to the crushing realization he would not be leaving alive after getting trapped while spelunking - which is the exploration of caves.
John Edward Jones’ story has long circulated social media due to the tragic circumstances.
The father is said to have suffered the ‘worst death imaginable’ after a mistake left him upside down in a cave for hours before dying.
Advert
The 26-year-old, his brother Josh, and some family friends were exploring the Nutty Putty Cave, located approximately 55 miles from Salt Lake City, in November 2009.
The experienced spelunker and medical student entered the cave system on November 24, unknown that it would become his final resting place.
During his cave expedition, John decided to try and find the formation known as the Birth Canal, which is a tight passage that spelunkers must crawl through carefully
Thinking he was on the right track and had found the Birth Canal, Jones inched himself into a narrow passage before realizing he had made a grave error.
Jones, who was about six feet tall and weighed 200 pounds, ended up wedged around 400 feet from the cave's entrance and was left unable to turn around - the gap measuring just 10 inches by 18 inches.
He was also stuck in a painful upside down, head-first position.
His brother was the first person to find him stuck in the cave, and he tried to pull him free, but John slipped even further into the enclosed space, with his arms now by his side.
Unable to move John any further, Josh said a prayer: "Guide us as we work through this," to which the desperate father added: "Save me for my wife and kids."
Josh then left his brother hoping to find people to help, and came across a woman named Susie Motola, who bravely tried to assist in his rescue.
Speaking to her, John thanked her for willingness to help but appeared to be getting very anxious.
He said: “Hi Susie, thanks for coming. But I really, really want to get out.”
More than 100 rescue personnel came to John’s aid over the next few hours. However, due to the upside down position he was in, the stress was intense on his heart as it had to pump blood to his extremities against gravity.
After a pulley system failed, John seemed to admit defeat and said: “I’m going to die right here. I’m not going to come out of here, am I?”
He then asked after one of the rescuers, Ryan Shurtz, who had been badly hurt after a metal carabiner slammed into his face.
John said: "Is he OK? I think he's really hurt bad."
After that John fell silent, later falling unconscious. After being trapped for approximately 27-28 hours, his heart gave out and he tragically died of cardiac arrest.
Since his death, the cave has been closed and his body has never been recovered.