U.S. caver Mark Dickey rescued in Turkey and recovering after a "crazy adventure"
American explorer Mark Dickey was rescued from a cave in southern Turkey on Monday night, the Turkish Caving Federation said. Dickey "was taken out of the last exit of the cave" a little past midnight local time, the federation wrote on social media. "Thus, the cave rescue part of the operation ended successfully. We congratulate all those who contributed!"
Dickey, 40, got stuck last weekend in a section of the cave system known serendipitously as "Camp Hope." The speleologist, or cave expert, was hit with gastric pain that turned into bleeding and vomiting while helping to chart the cave system — the country's third deepest and sixth longest — leaving him stuck more than 3,200 feet underground.
"It is amazing to be above ground again," the American caver said after his rescue. "I was underground for far longer than ever expected... It's been one hell of a crazy, crazy adventure, but I'm on the surface safely," he said at the scene. "I'm still alive."
A Turkish Health Ministry official told CBS News early Tuesday that Dickey was at the Mersin City Hospital, where he was under observation in the intensive care unit but doing well.
"The fact that our son, Mark Dickey, has been moved out of Morca Cave in stable condition is indescribably relieving and fills us with incredible joy," Dickey's parents, Debbie and Andy, wrote in a statement on Tuesday. They also thanked the Turkish government and Dickey's fiancé, Jessica, for their support.
Dickey fell ill as he helped to chart the cave system, telling journalists after he emerged that he, "kept throwing up blood and then my consciousness started to get harder to hold onto, and I reached the point where I was like, 'I'm not going to live.'"
Scores of international rescuers descended on the Morca cave system as the plan to save Dickey took shape.
Rescuers finally reached him around the middle of last week, and a long, slow ascent began. On Monday, nearly 200 people from seven European countries and Turkey — including fellow cavers and medics — were working to save Dickey.
Rescuers transporting the explorer had to zig-zag up a path higher than New York's Empire State Building.
"Signing off with a quote by a different Mark who was stranded in a different remote place," the Turkish Caving Federation wrote on social media, referencing the character Mark Watney from the novel "The Martian" by Andy Weir: "The cost of my survival must have been hundreds of millions of dollars. All to save one dorky botanist. Why bother? … They did it because every human being has a basic instinct to help each other out."
