American trapped in Turkish cave for 10 days hauled to safety

Mark Dickey, an American researcher who was trapped in a Turkish cave for 10 days after becoming seriously ill, was brought to safety Monday after a successful rescue mission.

The Speleological Federation of Turkey, which had been covering the rescue operation on social media, said in a post Monday that the mission was complete and that Dickey was taken to the National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE) tent for medical assistance shortly after midnight.

“Mark Dickey was removed from the last exit of the cave at 00:37 and taken to the UMKE tent. Thus, the cave rescue part of the operation has ended successfully. We congratulate all those who have contributed!” the Speleological Federation of Turkey said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“This concludes our live-tweeting for this rescue operation. Congratulations to everyone! Our hearts go out for all the victims of Morocco earthquake and the floods in Libya,” the federation wrote in a subsequent post.

Dickey fell ill Sept. 2 while he was more than 3,000 feet below the entrance to the Morca cave, which is the third deepest in the country. He was experiencing stomach bleeding and was too frail to climb out himself, so rescuers came to his aid. It was not clear what the cause of Dickey’s illness was.

Rescue teams came from across Europe to aid in the rescue mission. There were various camps set up along the way so rescuers could make frequent stops, and the rescuers were able to carry him out on a stretcher. Dickey was first treated by a Hungarian doctor who went into the cave on Sept. 3 in order to treat him. 

Dickey was an experienced caver and was on a mission to map out the cave. 

The Associated Press contributed reporting.