The caver spent the night resting at base camp. Rescuers now say they hope to have him out "tonight or tomorrow"
ADVERTISEMENTRescue teams on Monday announced they had brought an American researcher up from 1,040 metres below ground to 180 metres from the surface. On Sunday, he was brought to a base camp at 700 metres below ground level to rest before the next stage of the operation.
The latest development was revealed by Turkey's Speleology Federation on X.
An experienced caver, Mark Dickey, started vomiting on September 2 because of stomach bleeding while on an expedition with a handful of others in the Morca cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains, one of the deepest in the world, according to experts.
A rescue operation began Saturday afternoon with doctors, paramedics and experienced cavers from across Europe rushing to help.
They set up small medical base camps at various levels along the shaft, providing Dickey an opportunity to rest during the slow and arduous extrication.
“Mark was delivered to the campsite at -700 metres as of 03:24 local time (GMT+3). At this stage, he will set out again after resting and having the necessary treatments,” the Speleological Federation of Turkey wrote on its official account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Turkish authorities said there are 190 personnel from eight countries taking part in the operation, 153 of them search and rescue experts.
The most challenging part of the rescue operation is widening the narrow cave passages to allow stretcher lines to pass through at low depths, Yusuf Ogrenecek of the speleological federation previously said.
The extraction is expected to take up to 10 days, depending on his condition.