SAR responded to assist a female involved in an ATV accident in the 5-mile pass area. Life Flight picked her up and the team was canceled.

John Edward Jones became trapped in a narrow passage in Nutty Putty Cave. Every effort was made to rescue John, but about 27 hours after becoming stuck, he passed away.

SAR expresses our deepest regrets to his family, whose unfailing support of and gratitude for our efforts is greatly appreciated.

This tragic event received a great deal of national media attention and has spurred much debate on what more could have been done. Besides the highly-skilled cavers on SAR, others of the best cavers and cave rescue teams from throughout the state who witnessed the situation first hand deemed the rescue “hopeless” due to the extremely tight constrictions (18″), many tight corners (up to 270 degrees), and several other equally-problematic factors.

This is the first incident in over ten years (possibly much longer) that Utah County SAR has located an accident victim alive and failed to deliver them alive to other care givers.

We express our gratitude to the dozens of professional cave and rescue agencies who volunteered their expertise and equipment to assist in this effort.

Following this event, the decision was made to permanently close the cave, which was located on state education trust land. The entrance has since been filled with concrete.

JUNE 2011 UPDATE: Read many more details of this and other rescues in the brand-new book 75 Search and Rescue Stories.

SAR member Shaun Roundy places a bolt to eliminate rope drag in the Drain Pipe area

A 48-year-old female was injured in an ATV rollover in the Mapleton area. Deputies and team members responded to assist with evacuation.

An autistic man was reported missing in Genola. The young man was found 30 minutes later.

Two adults who rolled their vehicle in the Hall’s Fork area between Hobble Creek Right Fork and Diamond Fork suffered minor injuries. A 4-year old was fine.