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Istanbul, Turkey — An international team of rescuers on Tuesday pulled to safety a US explorer who spent nine days trapped deep in the narrow tunnels of a Turkish cave with internal bleeding.
“Mark Dickey was removed from the last exit of the cave,” the Turkish Caving Federation said, adding that the “cave rescue part of the operation has ended successfully.”
The 40-year-old explorer developed stomach problems while examining the depths of the Morca Cave, a remote complex of twisting underground passageways in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains.
The cave, Turkey’s third-deepest, reaches nearly 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) below ground at its lowest point.
Dickey fell ill at a depth of 1,120 metres (3,695 feet), sparking what organisers said was one of the largest and most complicated underground rescue operations ever mounted.
