Rescuers yesterday pulled an American researcher out of a Turkish cave, more than a week after he became seriously ill 1,000m below its entrance, officials said.
Teams from across Europe had rushed to Morca cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains to aid Mark Dickey, a 40-year-old experienced caver who became seriously ill on Sept. 2 with stomach bleeding. He was on an expedition to map the cave, which is the third-deepest in the nation.
Dickey was too frail to climb out himself, so rescuers carried him with the help of a stretcher, making frequent stops at temporary camps set up along the way before he finally reached the surface early yesterday.
Photo: Reuters
“Mark Dickey is out of the Morca cave,” a statement from the Speleological Federation of Turkey said.
It said that Dickey was removed from the last exit of the cave at 12:37am yesterday morning.
“He is fine and is being tended to by emergency medical workers in the encampment above,” the statement said.
Lying on a stretcher surrounded by reporters following his rescue, Dickey described the ordeal as a “crazy, crazy adventure.”
“It is amazing to be above ground again,” he said, thanking the Turkish government for saving his life with its rapid response. He also thanked the international caving community, Turkish cavers and Hungarian Cave Rescue, among others.
The American was first treated inside the cave by a Hungarian doctor who went down the cave on Sept. 3. Doctors and rescuers then took turns caring for him.
The cause of Dickey’s illness was not clear.
Dickey yesterday said that in the cave he had started to throw up large quantities of blood.
“My consciousness started to get harder to hold on to, and I reached the point where I thought: ‘I’m not going to live,’” he told reporters.
The biggest challenges for the rescuers getting him out of the cave were the steep vertical sections, and navigating through mud and water at low temperatures in the horizontal sections. There was also the psychological toll of staying inside a dark, damp cave for extended periods of time.
About 190 experts from Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Poland and Turkey took part in the rescue, including doctors, paramedics and experienced cavers. Teams comprised of a doctor and three to four other rescuers took turns staying by his side at all times.
The rescue began on Saturday after doctors, who administered IV fluids and blood, determined that Dickey could make the arduous ascent.
Before the evacuation could begin, rescuers first had to widen some of the cave’s narrow passages, install ropes to pull him up vertical shafts on a stretcher and set up temporary camps along the way.
Dickey, who is from Croton-on-Hudson, New York, is a well-known cave researcher and a cave rescuer himself, who had participated in many international expeditions.
He and several other people on the expedition were mapping the 1,276m deep Morca cave system for the Anatolian Speleology Group Association.
Dickey became ill on Sept. 2, but it took until the next morning to notify people above ground.
Turkish authorities made a video message available that showed Dickey standing and moving around on Thursday last week. While alert and talking, he said he was not “healed on the inside” and needed a lot of help to get out of the cave.
After his rescue, the head of the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, Okay Memis, told a news conference that the health of Dickey was “very good.”
The European Cave Rescue Association said many cave rescuers remained in the cave to remove rope and rescue equipment used during the operation.
The association expressed its “huge gratitude to the many cave rescuers from seven different countries who contributed to the success of this cave rescue operation.”
“The fact that our son, Mark Dickey, has been moved out of Morca Cave in stable condition is indescribably relieving and fills us with incredible joy,” Mark Dickey’s parents, Debbie and Andy Dickey, said in a statement.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS