TASELI PLATEAU (AP) – Rescue crews were waiting for doctors to give the go-ahead for an operation to move out an American researcher who fell ill almost 1,000 metres below the entrance of a cave in Turkiye, officials said. The effort could last up to 10 days.
Mark Dickey, a 40-year-old experienced caver, suddenly became ill with stomach bleeding during an expedition with a handful of others in the Morca cave in southern Turkiye’s Taurus Mountains.
Rescuers from across Europe have rushed there to help Dickey and to extract him, including doctors who have treated him inside the cave. The cause of his illness remains unclear.
“The moment we get the go-ahead from the medical team, we will start the evacuation,” head of the search and rescue department at Turkiye’s disaster relief agency Recep Salci told The Associated Press (AP).
Doctor and the medical coordinator of the rescue Tulga Sener said preparations are complete, and that rescue teams had established small medical camps at various levels along the shaft as well as a mini laboratory to monitor Dickey’s condition.Doctors would assist him all the way up the cave, Sener told the AP. “If the doctor down there gives approval, the transportation process will begin as soon as possible.”
Rescuers believe Dickey would have to stop and rest frequently at various points along the way up.
Salci said the duration of the rescue would depend on whether Dickey can come out on his own strength with the assistance of rescuers, or – if his condition worsens – on a stretcher.
“If he comes up on a stretcher it could last 10 days. If he is assisted up, then we plan to bring him up in four or five days,” Salci said.
The European Cave Rescue Association said on its website on Friday that the cave had been divided into seven sections, with various rescue teams taking responsibility for each of the levels down the cave.
Communication lines inside the cave had also been improved, it said.
The cave is one of the deepest in the world, according to spokesman Federico Catania in Rome for Italy’s National Alpine and Speological Rescue, who said he thought Dickey would need to be carried up on a stretcher.
