Anxious hours in northern Italy. A researcher got stuck in a cave injured after a fall. The rescue took two days.
Update from July 4, 4:32 p.m.: The mountain rescue managed to free Ottavia Piana from the grotto. After more than 36 hours of use, the CNSAS reported the success on Twitter. The injured caver was taken to the hospital by rescue plane.
First report from July 4, 1:14 p.m.: Bergamo – Italy is worried about 31-year-old Ottavia Piana. The speleologist has been stuck in a cave at a depth of almost 150 meters for days. She cannot free herself on her own. The highly complex rescue operation is underway – but it is dragging on for an agonizingly long time.
The 31-year-old from the Brescia region is a cave expert and explored the “Bueno Fonteno” cave near Lago d’Iseo and thus not far from the Lake Garda region, which is popular with German tourists, together with some friends and colleagues on an expedition on Sunday. This is one of the largest caves in Lombardy and Italy in general. The team was in the process of exploring a new section of the cave, of which almost 20 kilometers have already been explored. It is a labyrinth of corridors with a total length of almost 50 kilometers.
Cave drama in Italy: woman trapped at a depth of 150 meters for two days
At a depth of almost 150 meters then the accident: According to the newspaper Il Giorno The researcher was just climbing when an anchor apparently came loose and she fell several meters down. In doing so, she seriously injured her knee, which had already been struck by another injury. The leg is believed to be broken.
According to reports from the Italian media, the researcher is doing well. Due to the injury, however, she cannot leave the cave on her own. Some colleagues climbed out of the cave late Sunday afternoon and sounded the alarm. To do this, a colleague first had to go to a nearby village because the mobile phone reception was apparently not sufficient to inform the rescue services. Other colleagues reportedly stayed in the cave with the injured 31-year-old.
Italy fears for cavers: 60 emergency services busy with rescue
The mountain rescue team arrived on Sunday evening. Other specialists from Veneto, Trentino, Piedmont and Emilia Romagna were added later. But so far the young woman could not be brought back to the surface. Apparently, she is in a difficult-to-reach part of the cave. This makes a stretcher rescue complex. However, the rescuers left a telephone cable in the cave on Sunday so that they could speak to the woman. So Ottavia had to spend the night in the cave with the support of local doctors.
“The environmental conditions make the maneuvers very complex, also due to the rain last night, which also partially affected the interior of the country,” he quotes Corriere della Sera from a report by the Alpine rescue service. Because of the heavy rain, the area above the 50-meter shaft is “impassable,” it said. Now it has started raining again. It is planned to transport the stretcher along the meander of the river that has formed at the exit. The condition of the woman is “stable”. A doctor and a nurse are in constant contact with her.
Across from Rai news A cave rescuer who had been in the cave for 16 hours explained on Tuesday morning: “It is an extremely difficult cave because it is narrow and steep and the water is also causing us problems”.
According to the report, almost 60 emergency services are now deployed to rescue the 31-year-old. But because of the inhospitable conditions, Ottavia Piana had to spend another night in the cave.
Probably also in the course of the precipitation, there was also a spectacular rock fall near the Brenner motorway on Monday. (rjs)
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