Topline Mark Dickey, an American cave specialist who fell ill with severe gastric pain while exploring a cave system in Turkey last week, is the subject of an extensive rescue operation attempting to help him ascend more than 3,000 feet to the cave’s entrance.
American caver Mark Dickey’s condition has improved since he fell ill several days ago. (Turkish … [+] Government Directorate of Communications via AP)
Associated Press Key Facts The European Cave Rescue Association received a distress call from a 14-person expedition team Saturday that included Dickey, who began suffering from severe gastric pain after descending more than 3,600 feet into Morca Cave in Southern Turkey, according to a statement from the association.
Dickey, 40, was met by a Hungarian cave rescue team with a doctor one day after the call was made, with rescuers setting up a tent at a depth of 3,412 feet to provide intensive medical care after Dickey also experienced a decrease in blood circulation.
More than a dozen rescuers from Turkey, Hungary and Bulgaria have since descended into Dickey’s location in the cave system, which Turkish caving officials said would take an experienced caver 15 hours to ascend from with ideal conditions.
Dickey’s overall condition has improved in the last few days, with officials revealing in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was able to walk on his own Wednesday.
What To Watch For Rescue teams from Italy, Croatia, Poland and the U.S. arrived in Turkey to assist the rescue operation, according to CNN, which cited Turkish Caving Federation head Bulent Genc. The rescue, according to Genc, could take days given the cave’s deep and narrow passages, some of which require ascending up rappel ropes to navigate. Doctors will decide if it’s possible to get Dickey out without using a stretcher, the federation said Thursday.
Big Number 4,186 feet. That’s the depth of Turkey’s Morca Cave. The depth is equal to the height of about three Empire State Buildings stacked on top of each other.
Key Background Dickey has been an instructor with the National Cave Rescue Commission for 10 years and a “well-known figure in the international speleological community,” according to the European Cave Rescue Association, which promoted a GoFundMe to support the rescue. Morca Cave is Turkey’s third-deepest cave and sports a depth that makes it the 74th-deepest cave in the world, according to the Cave Exploration Society.
Further Reading Rescuers rush to save American man trapped in deep cave in Turkey (CNN)
Teams Try to Rescue Sick American 3,000 Feet Down in Turkish Cave (New York Times)
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