Italy
After more than 40 hours: Injured cave climber rescued
In some places the rescuers have to rappel down deeply. photo
© Mountain and Cave Rescue Italy/dpa
A cave climber injured herself about 150 meters underground in Italy. A costly rescue operation begins. After almost two days, there is a happy ending.
The rescuers slowly and carefully feel their way into the cave, they are covered in mud from head to toe. In the glow of their headlamps, they heave a stretcher deep underground. On it lies a 31-year-old caver who died on Sunday on an excursion in northern Italy crashed and injured his foot.
After more than 40 hours of complicated toil, rescuers finally reach the exit of the cave near Lake Iseo between Brescia and Bergamo on Tuesday. At 1:45 p.m., the woman saw daylight again before being flown to a hospital by helicopter.
Memories wake up
In the cave labyrinth of Bueno Fonteno in the Lombardy region, not far from Lake Garda, which is popular with tourists, the complex campaign has been running since Sunday. She recalled the liberation of a researcher from the Bavarian giant cave in 2014 or the rescue of twelve youth footballers and their coaches from a flooded cave in Thailand in 2018. And this time there was a happy ending too.
According to media reports, the injured woman is in a stable condition, given the circumstances. In the hours before, doctors had regularly monitored the action underground.
On Sunday afternoon, the woman from the nearby community of Adro entered the cave with four climbing partners. In the underground labyrinth discovered just a few years ago, the group wanted to explore a new route, as reported by the “Corriere della Sera”. According to the first findings, a rock safety device broke at a depth of around 150 meters, the 31-year-old fell one and a half meters and hit her leg hard against a rock face. Climbing further was not possible, two partners got help.
An experienced climber
Specialized cave rescuers rushed in from several regions and set about the rescue. Doctors first reached the woman for an initial check, after which a telephone line was laid from the surface to the scene of the accident. The woman, who is considered an experienced climber, was tied tightly to a stretcher. Videos showed how only parts of her face can be seen.
The exit was more complicated than expected: Because it rained heavily on Tuesday night and a lot of water got into the cave, the rescue had to be interrupted. Among other things, a deep shaft had to be overcome. The helpers worked their way “centimeter by centimeter”, as Italy’s mountain and cave rescue service (CNSAS) tweeted.
The cave, which was only discovered a few years ago, is many kilometers long and still partly unexplored. In some places you have to rappel down deep, in other places it is difficult to progress through narrow points. Videos showed the rescuers bending on their hands and feet as they entered the cave. When the helicopter took off and it was clear that the woman was free, the waiting friends and relatives cheered, as a TV reporter said.
Similar bailouts
A similar – but more complicated and lengthy – rescue operation took place in Bavaria in June 2014, when caver Johann Westhauser was finally rescued almost two weeks after a rockfall from the Riesending shaft cave. More than 700 helpers from five countries were involved in the operation.
It took more than two weeks until twelve students and their football coach were rescued from the suddenly flooded Tham Luang Cave in Thailand in 2018. With worldwide media attention, those trapped were brought out by special divers from Great Britain and Australia as well as military divers.