American cave rescuer says it’s amazing to be above ground

A difficult and complicated mission to rescue an American man from a very deep cave in Turkey ended successfully on Tuesday. The man had fallen very sick and was too weak to get out of the cave by himself.

Mark Dickey, who is skilled and knowledgeable in cave exploration, had joined a group of researchers to explore Morca Cave. While they were there, it was reported that Mark started experiencing bleeding from his stomach and intestines.

The cave is in the Taurus Mountain range in southern Turkey. It goes very deep, reaching 1,276 meters (4,186 feet).

A big rescue operation was started with many experienced cave explorers from different countries and Turkish experts.

Recep Salci from Turkey’s disaster management authority said on Tuesday that Mark Dickey is safe and appears to be fine, as shown in a video of him being carried out of the cave with a smile.

Dickey, who was at a medical tent near the cave, expressed how grateful he felt to be back on the earth’s surface. He thanked the rescue teams and the Turkish government for saving his life without asking any questions.

“I stayed underground for a lot longer than I thought because of a surprise health problem,” he explained.

I’m not exactly sure what happened, but I do know that the Turkish government acted quickly to provide the medical supplies I needed. In my opinion, their fast response saved my life. He said, “I was almost at the edge. ”

Dickey’s mom and dad, Debbie and Andy, were very happy about the successful rescue. They said that knowing their son was safe made them feel really relieved and happy.

“They said it was an event that everyone involved in the big rescue effort worked very hard for. They also said that many people helped a lot, and they thanked the Turkish government. ”

They said that Mark is very strong and we believe in his strength. But we also knew that he urgently needed a lot of support right away.

Dickey got stuck in a cave that has very steep holes, deep pits, and narrow paths. Agnes Berentes, a photographer from Hungary who had been in the cave, shared this information with Reuters.

The temperatures underground were cold and wet. Berentes thought it was about 4 degrees Celsius (39 Fahrenheit).

In addition to other problems, his health was worsened by having a serious bleeding in his stomach. At one time, he was very sick to the point where doctors and rescuers had to give him someone else’s blood while he was deep inside the cave.

The European Cave Rescue Association (ECRA) was notified on September 2 about Dickey’s difficult situation.

This caused a big rescue effort with more than 200 helpers from countries like the US, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine.

ECRA officials said that the rescue efforts were split into seven sections at different depths. The teams worked nonstop and were able to move Dickey to a depth of 180 meters (590 feet) underground. Finally, they successfully brought him out of the cave.

The Turkish Caving Federation said that Dickey was safely taken out at 12:37 am on Tuesday.

A doctor was with Dickey in the cave. The rescue teams got constant updates from them using a communication line.

In the pictures, it shows him lying down and being rescued by workers using special equipment.

Dickey is a person who has been teaching others to rescue people stuck in caves for ten years. He has gone into caves in 20 different states in the U. Sand 10 different countries. He started a non-profit organization called the Caving Academy to help people who explore caves.

He began exploring caves in the 1990s and held positions as a secretary at the European Cave Rescue Association and as the executive director at the Caving Academy.

Correction: We fixed the title of this story to say how much time Dickey was stuck for.