American speleologist Mark Dickey fights for his life at a depth of 1,000 meters in a cave in the Taurus Mountains in southern Turkey. Rescue teams from all over Europe and Turkish experts are working on a complex rescue operation that can take “days or weeks”, according to the experts, because the cave has sections that are too narrow for a stretcher to pass through.
Dickey, 40 years old and with extensive experience in this type of expedition, was taking part in the mapping of the Morca cave system together with the Anatolian Association of Speleology Group (ASPEG). He started to feel bad when he was a thousand meters underground and suffered a stomach bleed.
The speleologist was able to send a video message from inside the cave, which has been released by the Turkish Communications Directorate, in which he assures that “the world of speleology is a very close group and it is surprising to see how many people have responded in the surface”. The American thanked the response of the Turkish government, since “his prompt response from him to get the medical supplies saved my life, I was very close to the limit.”
The place where Dickey is located is at a temperature of 4 to 6 degrees Celsius and teams from Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Italy and Poland are collaborating with Turkish experts in the rescue operation. Yusuf Ogrenecek of the Turkish Speleological Federation told the media that Dickey’s health had stabilized, adding that he is in “good spirits.” The last word on the rescue will be the doctors, who will have to decide if the American should leave the cave on a stretcher or by his own means.
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