Kowallis said the scene looked “very bleak,” with little hope of a successful rescue. Attempts to shift him into a horizontal position failed. “It looked like he could only be lifted another foot or two in his current position,” he explained, per LadBible. “His feet would hit the ceiling, with no room to manoeuvre.”
Eventually, Jones went unresponsive, succumbing to cardiac arrest and suffocation in the narrow shaft.
Today, a memorial plaque stands at the cave’s entrance – a sombre reminder of a tragic day that left the caving community forever changed.
