MERSIN: An international team of rescuers on Tuesday pulled safely an American explorer trapped more than 1,000 metres deep for nine days in a cave in southern Turkey.
Rescue operation ends successfully
Turkish Caving Federation told the media that Mark Dickey was pulled out from the last exit of the cave ending the operation successfully.
Mark Dickey, 40, developed stomach issues on September 2 in Morca Cave, a compound of narrow underground tunnels in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains.
According to the county’s caving federation, Morca Cave is Turkey’s third-deepest, with a lowest point of 1.3 kilometres underground.
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Mark Dickey fell sick at a depth of 1,120 metres, triggering one of the most difficult underground rescue operations.
An international team of rescuers, explorers and medics first took the ailing Dickey to a base camp 180 metres in the cave. He was on a stretcher that sometimes had to be lifted vertically by a rope through narrow paths in the cave.
Earlier Turkish Caving Federation said if everything goes fine Mark could be pulled by Tuesday.
According to officials, Dickey’s health improved following an emergency treatment by medics but he had to be fed intravenously.
