September 9th 2023.
Efforts to rescue a man who fell ill while 3,000ft below ground in a cave in Turkey have begun. Mark Dickey, a 40-year-old researcher and experienced caver, started vomiting due to stomach bleeding during an expedition in the Morca cave in Turkey's Taurus Mountains.
Rescuers and doctors from across Europe have raced to treat the American while still deep below ground. On September 3, one Hungarian doctor reached Mr. Dickey and treated him inside the cave. He has been given IV fluids and four litres of blood, and a doctor and small team of others have remained with him at all times.
Turkey's disaster management agency has estimated that it could take up to 10 days to bring Mr Dickey back to the surface. He will need to stop and rest regularly while being pulled on a stretcher through narrow passages. An official from the agency said, “This afternoon, the operation to move him from his camp at 1,040 metres to the camp at 700 metres began.”
More than 190 people from eight countries, including doctors, paramedics, and experienced cavers, are assisting in the rescue effort. 153 of them are search and rescue experts. Ali Hamza Pehlivan, governor of Mersin, shared that Mr. Dickey’s condition is “getting better, thanks to medical intervention” as of Saturday.
Turkish authorities released a video which showed Mr Dickey standing and moving around on Thursday. Despite being alert and talking, he said he was not “healed on the inside” and needed a lot of help to get out of the cave. Mr. Dickey expressed his gratitude to the caving community and the Turkish government for their efforts to rescue him.
Yusuf Ogrenecek, of the Speleological Federation of Turkey, mentioned that one of the most difficult tasks will be widening the narrow cave passages to allow stretcher lines to pass through at low depths. He said, “Stretcher lines are labour intensive and require experienced cave rescuers working long hours.” Other difficult factors include navigating through mud and water at low temperatures and the psychological toll of staying inside a cave for long periods of time.
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