Cave rescue mission to avoid wasting sick researcher caught 3,000ft underground may take 10 days

Sep 10, 2023 at 3:21 PM
Cave rescue mission to avoid wasting sick researcher caught 3,000ft underground may take 10 days

Rescuing a caver who turned sick 3,000ft underground greater than every week in the past may take one other 10 days, a search chief says. 

Rescue groups in Turkey efficiently carried American researcher Mark Dickey to the 2300ft (700m) mark on Sunday. He will relaxation there earlier than they proceed the journey to the floor.

The 40-year-old began vomiting on 2 September due to abdomen bleeding whereas on an expedition within the Morca collapse southern Turkey.

Mark Dickey
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Mark Dickey is an skilled caver

The painstaking rescue includes groups pulling his stretcher via slim passages and vertical shafts to the floor.

This may take as much as 10 days, in line with Recep Salci, head of the search and rescue division of Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate, AFAD. If his situation improves, the mission might be quicker.

Doctors, paramedics and skilled cavers rushed to Turkey to assist with the mission. Turkish authorities stated 190 individuals from eight international locations are concerned, 153 of them search and rescue specialists.

Rescuers try to move a rock in Morca Cave, as they take part in a rescue operation to reach U.S. caver Mark Dickey who fell ill and became trapped some 1,000 meters (3,280 ft) underground, near Anamur in Mersin province, southern Turkey September 5, 2023. REUTERS/Agnes Berentes NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
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Rescuers attempt to transfer a rock as they clear as passage for the rescue mission

Rescuers descend to the entrance of Morca Cave as they take part in a rescue operation to reach U.S. caver Mark Dickey who fell ill and became trapped some 1,000 meters (3,280 ft) underground, near Anamur in Mersin province, southern Turkey September 8, 2023. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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Rescuers descend to the doorway of Morca Cave

Rescuers have arrange small medical base camps at numerous ranges alongside the shaft, offering Mr Dickey a chance to relaxation throughout arduous extrication.

One of essentially the most troublesome duties of cave rescue operations is widening the slim cave passages to permit stretcher traces to move via at low depths, Yusuf Ogrenecek, of the Speleological Federation of Turkey, stated.

“Stretcher lines are labour intensive and require experienced cave rescuers working long hours,” he stated.

Rescuers may even should navigate via mud and water at low temperatures and cope with the psychological toll of staying inside a cave for lengthy durations of time.

Read extra:
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‘Challenging’ cave rescue effort under way in Turkey

A map showing the cave where American Mark Dickey is trapped
U.S. caver Mark Dickey is seen in Morca Cave, days before he fell ill and became trapped some 1,000 meters (3,280 ft) underground, near Anamur in Mersin province, southern Turkey August 28, 2023. REUTERS/Agnes Berentes NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES
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Mark Dickey is seen in Morca Cave days earlier than he fell sick and have become trapped.

Teams together with a physician and three or 4 others take turns staying with Mr Dickey always.

On Saturday, Mersin governor Ali Hamza Pehlivan stated Mr Dickey was in a steady situation.

“We have received information that his condition is getting better, thanks to medical intervention,” he stated.

Mr Dickey is an teacher with the US National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC). He is extremely regarded within the worldwide speleological (the research of cave exploration) group and has beforehand taken half in rescue missions.

He was co-leading an expedition to seek out and map a brand new passage within the Turkish cave, the third deepest within the nation, when he fell sick.