Mark Dickey is stuck in a cave at 1000 meters. The rescue will likely take days. “You don’t just throw a rope down there,” explains Fee Gloning.
MERSIN – The rescue mission for Mark Dickey begins in eastern Turkey. The caver got a stomach hemorrhage at a depth of 1,000 meters. And the phones rang in Germany too, including at Fee Gloning from the Malteser cave rescue service.
The European Cave Rescue Association (ECRA) asks where rescuers are available. 150 people are currently working on the rescue of the American, the mission will probably take days. Cave rescuer Carl Heitmeyer, a friend of the injured man, fears it may even take up to a week.
Cave explorers in Turkey in distress: That makes the salvage mission so complicated
Why is rescue so difficult? “It depends on the local conditions. How rough is the terrain? Where is the patient? How is he doing?” Gloning explains in an interview with IPPEN.MEDIA. In fact, rescuers are currently having to widen sections of the cave to allow Dickey to fit through on the stretcher.
And that’s where the next imponderables appear. “How far do you have to work the rock? You may have to work with explosives,” says Gloning. She was last in contact with ECRA on Thursday evening (September 7th), and she only knows about the situation in the cave from the press.
“You don’t just throw a rope down there”: carry a weight of almost 200 kilograms with the cave explorer
But one thing is clear: “You don’t just throw down a rope and pull it up on a stretcher,” explains the Malteser rescuer. The cave passages can be tricky, winding, narrow and dangerous. The rescue is also a feat of strength: “With one person, a stretcher weighs almost 200 kilos. You need manpower for that.”
Dickey got into trouble in a very large cave system, and the rescue forces first had to come down to a depth of 1000 meters. “Then you’re underground for a week,” explains Gloning, “bivouacs are set up in the cave. You can sleep and store material in it.”
Most cave rescuers are volunteers: international community working together
Of course, no one manages a week of action without a break. The forces underground have to be replaced regularly and supplied with provisions. “The logistics involved are huge,” says Gloning. That is why so many people are involved in the rescue mission.
Most cave rescuers are volunteers. Umbrella organizations such as ECRA ask who would be available for an assignment. They also enable an international exchange of knowledge. (moe)
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