More than 150 rescuers are trying to free an American caver in Turkey who is trapped at a depth of more than a thousand meters. The man is said to have become very ill in the fourth deepest cave in the country.
It concerns 40-year-old caver Mark Dickey. He was exploring Morca Cave in southern Turkey’s Mersin province with an international team when he suffered a gastrointestinal haemorrhage. According to the Turkish rescue services, his colleagues raised the alarm last Sunday. But the rescue operation could only start on Tuesday. While waiting, the man was given bags of blood.
The rescue operation is being carried out by the Turkish authorities in collaboration with the European Caving Rescue Services (ECRA). “According to the latest data, Mark’s condition has stabilized,” it said. “The bleeding has stopped and he can walk with help. But it is not possible for him to get out of there without a stretcher.” To get that stretcher on site, a number of corridors in the cave have to be widened.
More than 150 rescue workers are involved in the operation. This is extremely complex and would take several days: in normal circumstances it would take fifteen hours to reach the place where the caver is.
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