Rescue Efforts for American Man Trapped Thousands of Feet in Turkish Cave Are Underway

Rescue efforts have begun to transport an American trapped in a Turkish cave after falling ill.

A rescue team reached Mark Dickey and began moving him out of the Morca sinkhole — Turkey’s third-deepest cave at 4,186 feet — on a stretcher Saturday afternoon, the Turkish Speleology Federation (TUMAF) said. xwhich was formerly known as Twitter.

“Mark’s stretcher transport started at 15:28 local time,” the federation, which is cooperating with the Turkish government in the rescue, wrote alongside a diagram of the cave.

Rescuers rush to rescue an American who fell ill thousands of meters deep in a Turkish cave

TUMAF later released several more updates on Dickey’s move to the surface, which began at a base camp located at a depth of about 3,412 feet.

Hours later, Dickey, 40, was located at a depth of about 2,560 feet, TUMAF wrote on x was “one more climb” from the team’s next stop at the cave camp.

According to the speleological association latest updateshared Sunday morning, Dickey “went on a stretcher to the next camp,” located at a depth of about 1,640 feet, around 10 a.m. local time.

A New Jersey man, an experienced caver, traveled to a cave in Turkey’s Taurus Mountains to map a new passageway.

His plans were derailed when he suffered a gastrointestinal bleed last weekend while at a depth of about 3,675 feet, prompting a rescue. Shortly after he fell ill, he was transported to base camp at 1,412 feet, CNN writes.

Dickey entered the cave with his fiancee and fellow caver, Jessica, who would exit the cave before his rescue, New Jersey First Responders said, according to NBC News.

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News of Dickey’s situation reached the European Spele Rescue Association (ECRA) last Saturday, when it received a call saying a person had fallen ill in the cave and had “severe stomach pains”, according to a press release.

Rescuers on the third day of operation to transport Mark Dickey from the Morc Sinkhole in Turkey.

Turkish Speleological Federation Facebook

According to ECRA, some of Dickey’s fellow cavers sought medical advice, hoping to treat him so he could climb out of the cave unaided, but “increasing destabilization of the patient’s circulation” meant help was needed.

Doctors at one of the cave base camps said it was “it is not possible for him to climb alone,” and it would take him 15 hours under ideal conditions to return to the cave entrance for his “narrow winding passages and several descents,” according to posts TUMAF shared on X last week.

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dr. Tulga Şener, medical coordinator at the speleological federation’s rescue commission, previously told NBC News that the speleologist was vomiting and bleeding, but had since stopped.

Şener also said that a doctor and paramedic were with him in the cave if his condition worsened.

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Morca sinkhole surface on the third day of Mark Dickey’s rescue mission.

Turkish Speleological Federation Facebook

In a video of Dickey recorded last week shared by the Turkish Communications Authority and obtained by the Associated Press and the BBC, the caver shared his gratitude to all those who helped in his rescue efforts.

“I don’t know exactly what happened, but I do know that the quick response of the Turkish government to get me the medical supplies that I needed, in my opinion, saved my life,” Dickey said in the video, adding that he “was very close to the edge.”

The diaper carrier, wearing a puffer jacket and a flashlight, continued, “As you can see, I’m up, I’m awake and I’m talking, but inside I’m not healed yet.”

“So I’m going to need a lot of help to get out of here,” he concluded.

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