“It’s not very often where you come in, you have high hopes and you are going into an operation you have done before with success and then you get into a situation where it doesn’t go as you planned.” The team of rescuers – many of them volunteers from Utah caving groups – were devastated by Thursday’s outcome, Cannon said. “We don’t understand it.”Ī memorial service is planned for Saturday. “It’s just you just never expect any thing like this,” he said. Spencer Jones said his family is “remarkably strong,” but is struggling to make sense of what happened. But it became increasingly clear last night after he got re-stuck that there weren’t very many options left,” Jones’ brother, Spencer Jones, 30, of San Francisco, told The Associated Press. “We all were very optimistic and hopeful. But he slipped back into the tight space when an anchor in the cave roof that supported the pulley system failed, Cannon said. Jones, his wife Emily and their 13-month-old daughter had come home to Utah for the Thanksgiving holiday and to share the news that another baby is expected in June.įamily said they knew Jones fought to survive throughout the rescue effort and was commended by rescue crews for “his remarkable good spirits and resilience to the end.”Īt one point Wednesday, workers had moved Jones roughly 12 feet out of a tight 18-by-10 inch crevice, far enough to give him some food and water. George native was attending medical school at the University of Virginia, hoping to pursue a career as pediatric cardiologist. “He head explored many caves and maneuvered is way through many tight spaces before,” the family said in a statement issued late Thursday.įor the past two years, the St. Nutty Putty is now closed until a decision can be made about its future, Leavitt said.Īs described by his family, Jones was an outdoor lover with a strong sense of adventure.

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