'I tried saving man who suffered worst death imaginable – he made terrifying final noise'

The rescuer who was there when a young medical student took his final breaths after getting trapped upside down inside a cave has revealed what really happened during his horrifying final moments . John Edward Jones was a 26-year-old father-of-one when he went cave diving with pals in Utah in November 2009. He was a popular cave explorer (spelunker) and his group went to the twisty Nutty Putty Cave. However, John a tragic error in mistakenly entering an uncharted area named Ed's Push and falling into a dead-end tunnel. He went in head-first, inching forward with his hips, stomach, and fingertips. What followed is what many experts have called the "worst death imaginable". His brother was the first to find him at the narrow downward fissure known as the 'Brith Canal' before he went and called for help — which led to cave explorer and YouTuber Brandon Kowallis trying to assist. He said John “had started talking about seeing angels and demons around him”. Writing on his website shortly after the horrific death, he outlined the 27 hours they spent trying to rescue him, and said: “I shifted my position a little and tapped him on the leg. I could hear him breathing a deep gurgling breath, as though his lungs were filling with fluid. “Then his feet shifted as though he were trying to maneuver his legs out of the crack he was jammed in. The kicking looked fairly frantic and after a second he stopped and it looked as though he had drifted into unconsciousness. I continued tapping him on the legs and hip to see if I could get a response, but there was no response.” Brandon has now released a YouTube video all these years later clearing up misconceptions about the rescue mission with the title: “My Final Words on Nutty Putty.” He said it was going to be his last video about the incident — and he then proceeded to answer the most pressing questions about it. And reflecting on the accident, he made a powerful statement 24 minutes into his video, which you can watch here . He explained: “I have realised that life pivots on a very small hinge and the tiny decisions that we make in our life can have monumental consequences.” One of the most common questions he was asked was whether it was truly impossible to rescue the young father. Brandon simply replied: “It was truly impossible because of the fact that he was upside down. “Like that is the one variable. That is the tiny little hinge upon which all of this pivoted. Had he gone in there feet first, we would have got him out. No doubt in my mind.” Due to how much John must have suffered, one theory afterwards was that the rescuers may have euthanised him, especially when they realised there was no way out. However, asked whether the experienced spelunker was given a “mercy dose of sedative”, Brandon replied: “There’s some conspiracy theories out there that rescuers had just gotten tired and didn’t want to deal with it, and so they gave him a mercy dose, a mercy killing of some sedative or extreme painkiller or whatever. "That absolutely did not happen. To those of you who are into those conspiracy theories, Abraham Lincoln once said, and I really like this quote, he said something like, 'I would rather trust and occasionally be disappointed than distrust and be miserable all the time'.” Brandon spoke passionately about this point and said he could “say with absolute certainty” that it did not happen. People on the internet were also curious as to whether John was doomed as soon as he went the wrong way in the Nutty Putty Cave — or whether he would still be alive today if he had stopped sooner. Brandon said: “If John had stopped 10ft sooner he would have been able to get out. No question at all.” However, after putting his head through one “tube”, he said: “After that point, that’s when if you go head first and you get your body all the way through, you’ve hit the point of no return. “So if he had stopped just right where that window was, like with his head poking down, he would have easily, no problem at all, gotten out. “It was just the the difference of just a few feet which is crazy.” Another poignant question was about John’s final moments alive, and Brandon explained how he went to talk to the search and rescue team after he had fallen unconscious. However, after going back, he heard noises from John’s body, and he remembered: “Went back in, and again, I'm talking like, 'Hey, John, we're going to do everything we can to get you out of here.’ “That second time when I was down there, about an hour between I got there to where John was, went up there and talked to him back down. “That was about an hour that passed. At that point I heard him making noises that later the paramedics were like, 'Yeah, that's that's what most bodies make when they take their last breaths.’ “Then I went in and I couldn't hear any breathing at all.” Being unconscious, John was not able to share his final words with Brandon, but a radio was placed near his body so his family could say goodbye. He left behind his wife, Emily, and their baby daughter, Lizzie. Emily, who was pregnant with their second child, gave birth the following year, and the baby boy was named after his dad. Days after his death, concrete was poured into the main opening of the cave, which sealed him in there forever.