American cave explorer, Mark Dickey trapped in a cave 1000m underground in Turkey recorded a video stating that he was up and alert after a team of rescuers reached him with medical supplies.
Dickey was on an international exploration mission in the Morca cave in Mersin province’s Taurus mountains when he began suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding at a depth of 1,040 meters (3,412 ft).
He recorded a video after he got the medical supplies.
“Hi, I’m Mark Dickey from nearly a thousand meters,” Dickey said in the message, dressed in a red puffer jacket and using a headlamp. “As you can see, I’m up, I’m alert, I’m talking. But I’m not healed on the inside yet, so I’m going to need a lot of help to get out of here.”
Footage from the operation showed rescuers setting up shelters in the cavity where he was found and chatting with Dickey.
Rescuers from other countries have also set up camps around the cave to help with the withdrawal operation.
Tulga Sener, the head of the rescue commission medical unit, said that Dickey’s health condition was stable and his vital signs normal, adding that three doctors would attend to him on his way up.
“Of course, this is not a cave that can be reached on foot,” Salci said. “It takes 12 hours for a caver to get down and 16 hours to climb up,” he said.
