Last person to see cave explorer who suffered 'worst death imaginable' explains how paramedics confirmed he had died
The last person to see John Jones has revealed how the emergency services were able to determine that the young man had died.
In November 2009, John (an avid caver) visited Utah's infamous Nutty Putty Cave but unfortunately didn't make it out again.
The 26-year-old travelled down a 'birth canal' section of the notoriously tight cave and ended up stuck in a position that left him unable to turn around or move backwards.
Ultimately, John suffered what people to this day still call 'the worst death imaginable' and died in the cave after being stuck in there for over 24 hours.
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Of course, there were rescue attempts to try to save Jones, but sadly, they were unsuccessful.
The last person to see John alive was cave explorer and YouTuber Brandon Kowallis, who was part of the rescue efforts.
In a lengthy blog post shared by Brandon last year, he recalled why he was unable to save John.
Because of the position John was in, it was deemed too dangerous for anyone to get to him, and Brandon couldn't manoeuvre him to safety. Sadly, the 26-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest and died.
While he was unable to be retrieved, paramedics were still able to determine that the medical student was deceased, and since the paramedics were struggling to reach John, Brandon had to check his pulse.
Brandon wrote: "They sent in a smaller paramedic to see if he could get back to John. In the event he couldn’t he showed me how to use the stethoscope and thermometer and where to check for a pulse."
It took around 15 minutes for him to get to John once more, this time with a stethoscope in tow.
"I first tried the stethoscope and was only able to get it about 3 inches up and to the right of his naval," he continued to pen. "I didn’t hear a distinct heartbeat, only some ruffling, fluttering sounds that were probably a result of me shaking as I tried to steady myself in an awkward location."
Brandon then tried to reach as far up John's torso as he could to check if he was breathing — to which he didn't think he was. In terms of John's body temperature, apparently his chest was hot, but the rest of his body was the same temperature as the cave itself.
He continued to recall: "From there I removed his shoe and attempted to check his temperature. The thermometer read nothing, which the paramedic said was because the temperature was below the range. As I took his shoes off and moved his feet I noticed that his feet and legs were significantly stiffer than they had been earlier and it was difficult to his leg more than a few inches."
Brandon returned to the surface to report his findings to the paramedic, who then climbed into the cave themself.
They weren't able to get as far down as Brandon got, to the point that they could reach John's feet. From that point, they were able to confirm that John had tragically died.
Niamh Shackleton