American caver Mark Dickey dramatically emerged from the Turkish cave in the early hours of Tuesday morning, a week after he became seriously ill while 3,000 feet below the Earth’s surface.
Teams from across Europe had rushed to the Morca Cave in Turkey’s Taurus Mountains to help 40-year-old Dickey, who was suffering from a stomach haemorrhage.
Dickey was trapped in a part of the cave surrounded by steep shafts, narrow passages and pits. The temperature in the cave was around 39 degrees and was described as humid and wet.
The call to help Dickey went out on September 2 from the European Cave Rescue Association and was answered by approximately 200 rescuers from the US, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Ukraine, among others.
The biggest challenges for the rescuers were the steep vertical sections and navigating mud and water at low temperatures in the horizontal sections.
Eventually, a plan was devised where the team was divided by nationality and separated at different depths to lead Dickey through a path higher than the Empire State Building. Each team carried the stricken caver approximately 170 meters.
In a brief statement, American caver Mark Dickey, 40, said he felt he would not get out of the cave alive.
Dickey, shortly after his rescue, quickly rushed the caver to a medical tent after emerging from the cave
The rescue began Saturday after doctors, administering IV fluids and blood, determined Dickey could not make the arduous climb alone, which was estimated to take about 57 hours.
Before the evacuation could begin, rescuers first had to widen some of the cave’s narrow passages, set up a communications system, install ropes to pull him onto a stretcher into vertical shafts and set up temporary camps along the way.
The rescue team consisted of doctors, paramedics and experienced cavers. In addition to the physical toll, they also faced the psychological challenge of staying in a dark, damp cave for extended periods of time.
The international operation started when the Bulgarian team took Dickey to the Croatian team, who then took him to the Italian team, who then took him to the Polish team, who then took him to the Hungarian team, who took Dickey to the Turkish team, which brought him to the surface. .
The Turkish team captured Dickey from 160 meters away until he emerged from the cave.
At one point, Dickey was able to muster the strength to walk through some of the narrow passages alone.
According to the National Cave Rescue Commission in Alabama, it would take a healthy climber 15 hours to ascend from the depths where Dickey found himself.
“The cave also has challenges because it is 39-43 F and it is a fairly wet cave, with dripping water and pools,” the NCRC said.
Dickey spoke to reporters shortly after his rescue and described the feeling as ‘amazing’
Dickey is welcomed by supporters to return to the surface
Dickey posted this photo just hours after being rescued from his hospital bed in the intensive care unit
On September 11, he told reporters that he was vomiting large amounts of blood. “My consciousness became increasingly difficult to maintain and I reached the point where I thought, ‘I’m not going to live,’” he added.
Dickey also said it was “great to be back above ground” and once again thanked Turkish officials for playing their part in the rescue operation without “literally asking any questions.”
‘I was underground for much longer than ever expected due to an unexpected medical problem. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I do know that the Turkish government’s quick response to get the medical care I felt I needed saved my life. I was very close to the edge,” Dickey added.
He was on an expedition to map the cave, the third deepest in the country. Dickey was too weak to climb out on his own, so rescuers carried him using a stretcher, making frequent stops at temporary camps set up along the way.
“Mark Dickey is out of Morca Cave,” said a statement from the caving federation. It said Dickey was removed from the cave’s final exit at 12:37 p.m. local time.
“He is doing well and is being cared for by medical providers in the encampment above,” the statement said.
Mark’s parents, Debbie and Andy Dickey, thanked the international caving community, doctors and rescuers, and the Turkish government for their help in saving their son.
“The fact that our son, Mark Dickey, has been recovered from Morca Cave in stable condition is indescribably relieving and fills us with incredible joy,” they said in a statement.
In a Facebook post from his hospital bed in intensive care in Turkey, Dickey thanked both his rescuers and his fiancée Jessica Van Ord, calling her “literally saved my life with her speed and dedication to escaping from -1000 meters and returning with critical fluids’. necessary for me to live.’
One of Dickey’s doctors, Dr. Denes Akos Nagy, gave Dr. Zofia Erzsebet Zador credited for providing Dickey with six days of medical care “without any break” during the ordeal.
That doctor, Dr. Nagy, also greatly credited Van Ord, saying, “We would never have gotten the information about Mark Dickey’s distress in a timely manner. She was the one who initiated the rescue and then rushed to Mark and started treatment.”
Doctors and rescuers took turns caring for him during the ordeal. The cause of Dickey’s disease was not clear.
Rescuers have pulled an American researcher out of a Turkish cave, more than a week after he became seriously ill 900 meters below the entrance, the Speleological Federation of Turkey said.
A medical team cares for American caver Mark Dickey, mid-40s, in Morca Cave near Anamur, southern Turkey.
Dickey, 40, (photo inside the cave) was on an international exploration expedition in the Morca Cave in the Taurus Mountains in Mersin Province when he suffered gastrointestinal bleeding
More than 150 rescuers from around the world worked on the rescue mission in Turkey’s third deepest cave
Members of the CNSAS, Italian alpine and caving rescue workers, carried a stretcher carrying Dickey earlier Monday
Dickey, a native of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, is a noted cave explorer and himself a cave rescuer who has participated in many international expeditions.
After his rescue, the NCRC in Alabama said in a brief statement: “Mark is out of the cave!”
‘The global collaboration to get Mark out of this very deep cave is astonishing. We are so grateful to the Turkish government and all the rescue teams for their help in getting our friend to the surface. We know the challenges of conducting a rescue from such a deep location are extremely difficult,” said NCRC National Coordinator Gretchen Baker.
He and several other people on the expedition were mapping the 1,200-meter-deep Morca cave system for the Anatolian Speleology Group Association. Dickey fell ill on September 2, but it wasn’t until the next morning that people above ground were notified.
Turkish authorities on Thursday made available a video message showing Dickey standing and moving.
His condition appeared to improve during the climb and officials said he had had no bleeding or vomiting for two days.
While he was alert and talking, he said that he was “not healed inside” and that he needed a lot of help to get out of the cave.
He thanked the caving community and the Turkish government for their efforts to rescue him.
Rescuers from Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Poland, Hungary and Turkey are involved in the mission