2023-09-12 01:53:51
Walk 1 km and you won’t risk anything; descend 1 km into the bowels of the Earth, and the slightest hitch can be fatal. Except when 150 specialists from all over the world mobilize to recover you. The American caver who fell ill eight days ago more than 1,000 m deep in a sinkhole in Turkey was saved this Sunday evening.
Mark Dickey, 40, suffered a gastrointestinal hemorrhage while exploring the Morca cave system (south) with an international team. Thanks to the mobilization of rescuers from all over the world, the 40-year-old man was saved at the last minute by receiving a blood transfusion nearly 1,000 m underground. “The quick reaction of the Turkish government to obtain the medical supplies I needed saved my life,” the caver still underground testified on Friday. The latter was finally able to be brought to the surface on Monday safe and sound.
His transport by rescuers on a stretcher, launched shortly before 3:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. French time) on Saturday, lasted around ten hours for the first phase of his rescue. “At 1:02 a.m. (2:02 a.m. in France), Mark reached the depth of -700 m,” announced the Turkish Caving Federation this weekend, specifying that he only had a narrow horizontal passage to cross to reach a temporary camp where he was to rest, some capes did not allow the passage of a stretcher. It was therefore on Monday, after 9 days underground, that he was able to return to the surface.
Some passages of the chasm, as photographed here on August 28, are narrow and risky. REUTERS/Agnes Berentes
Mark Dickey, who was at -1,120 m when he fell ill, was able to be placed under observation in a camp located at -1,040 m, after a call for help launched on Saturday September 2. Blood bags were able to be administered to him for transfusion, and 150 Turkish and foreign rescuers went on site for the evacuation operation. On Wednesday, the American explained in a video, pale-skinned and warmly dressed, that he needed “serious help” to return to the surface.
VIDEO. Stuck in a cave 1,000m underground after an abdominal hemorrhage
The Morca sinkhole is the third deepest cave in Turkey on the Taseli plateau, in a difficult-to-access mountainous region of Mersin province.
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