Several rescuers wrapped injured cave explorer Ottavia Piana tightly and strapped her to a stretcher through the Abisso Bueno Fonteno cave in northern Italy. Narrow and slippery passages. They moved forward centimeter by centimeter in the light of their headlamps. After a long mission, they finally succeeded – early Wednesday morning, they and Piana reached the exit of the deep cave.
At 2:59 in the morning, the 32-year-old breathed fresh air again – a helicopter was waiting in the sky outside, pulled her up with a winch, and then took her to the hospital. The woman was seriously injured in a car crash at the weekend. She suffered injuries to her spine and ribs, as well as injuries to her face, according to rescuers.
Eventually, progress went faster than expected: the climb to the cave exit was actually expected to be Wednesday night or even Thursday morning. Surprisingly, however, the rescuers completed the final part of the maze faster than originally planned. The rescue mission lasted about 75 hours in total.
The cave explorer was rescued here.Image: trapezoid
Huge cave maze on Lake Iseo
The carefully planned operation has been underway since Saturday in a labyrinth of caves on the northern shore of Lake Iseo, between Bergamo and Brescia. Along with several other companions, the researchers made their way through the vast cavern, exploring previously unknown parts of the cave. As she descended into a narrow tunnel, she apparently lost her footing and slipped several meters.
More than 150 professional cave rescuers from other regions participated in the rescue. This turned out to be extremely difficult. This huge cave was not discovered until 2006. This is a huge maze of underground passages, waterfalls and lakes, with a total length of 50 kilometers. Not even half of it has been studied.
Strapped tightly on a stretcher through the corridor
Rescue workers and medical personnel arrived in Piana over the weekend and established a warm base camp. In order to be able to communicate with the outside world from the depths, a telephone line was laid from the surface to the accident site. The rescue mission then begins: Piana is strapped tightly to a stretcher and carried through the corridor.
The researcher remained in a stable state throughout the mission. However, it is unclear how serious their injuries were. Therefore, transportation must be done with special care. Piana can only be carried in a horizontal position.
More than 150 people participated in the rescue mission.Image: trapezoid
Extremely complex to use in confined spaces
One rescuer told Corriere della Sera how complex the operation was: “In some areas of the cave you can walk and the stretcher is placed on your shoulders, in other areas the stretcher needs to be lifted from one hand Passing to the other hand, especially in the narrowest areas of the canyon, rescuers will also work sitting up with the stretcher on their knees.
The researcher has already been trapped in the cave once
In July 2023, the young woman was trapped in the same cave. She broke her leg in a fall and had to be taken out of the cave into the open air during a difficult rescue mission. She was rescued two days later and taken to hospital.
However, after the latest incident, Piana no longer wants to return to the cave. She has confided to the doctors involved in the operation that she never wants to go into the cave again. Rino Bregani reported to the ANSA news agency that she now wants to “finally give up” on speleology.
Spectacular rescue operations have occurred in the past
In recent years, there have been several large-scale rescue operations to pull people out of the cave. In June 2018, the disappearance of a youth football team in Thailand attracted the greatest attention from the international community. Twelve boys and their coach were finally rescued from Tham Luang Cave after twelve days. One diver died. (Sudanese Development Authority/Department of Political Affairs)
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