Trapped American explorer sends video message from inside Turkish cave
Rescue teams could start to move trapped American explorer Mark Dickey from 3,400ft inside a cave in Turkey within hours, a report says.
An international team of cave rescuers and medical personnel have been working to stabilise the cave expert before launching a rescue operation as early as Saturday, a director at Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) told CNN.
Mr Dickey, 40, is on a mission to explore the Morca cave. But on Saturday, while exploring at 3,400 feet below the surface, he began suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding.
Authorities in Europe worked quickly to send a doctor down to Mr Dickey where they performed blood transfusions in the hopes of getting him strong enough to leave.
“I was very close to the edge,” Mr Dickey said in a video obtained by The Associated Press.
While Mr Dickey’s condition has improved thanks to a team of doctors from several countries, he may still need a stretcher to exit.
The cave system is described as extremely narrow with many twists and turns, making it difficult to navigate. It typically takes a person in good health around 15 hours to exit.
