Croton Researcher Trapped In Turkish Cave Could Be Out Within Hours

CROTON-ON-HUDSON, NY — The scientist and cave explorer who fell ill while exploring one of Turkey's deepest caves more than a week ago could return to the surface by Monday night, according to rescuers and experts.

Dickey, an accomplished cave explorer, was 1,040 meters (3,412 feet) from the entrance of the Morca Cave on an expedition, when he became stricken with severe stomach bleeding on Sept. 2. There were several other people with him, including three other Americans, on the mission to map the 1,276-meter (4,186-foot) deep cave system for the Anatolian Speleology Group Association.

His conditions rapidly worsened to life-threatening gastrointestinal intestinal bleeding and vomiting, according to the New Jersey Initial Response Team, a volunteer search and rescue organization of which Dickey is the chief.

While someone remained with the 40-year-old speleologist more than 1,000 meters (3,000 feet) underground, another team member began the arduous and technical climb back out of the cave to sound the alarm.

Doctors, paramedics, and experienced cavers from Turkey and across Europe rushed to his rescue. One Hungarian doctor went down to treat him at his location as early as Sept. 3. Doctors have administered IV fluids and 4 liters (1 gallon) of blood in a bid to stabilize his condition and pave the way for his rescue. Teams comprised of a doctor and three to four other rescuers took turns staying by his side at all times.

The Morca Cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains is the country’s third deepest, a very complex system with many vertical shafts and a few horizontal sections.

The biggest challenges the rescuers face are the steep vertical sections and navigating through mud and water at low temperatures in the horizontal sections. There is also the psychological toll of staying inside a dark, damp cave for extended periods of time, experts have said.

Temporary medical camps have been set up along the tunnel to provide assistance and resting spots as Dickey is gradually extracted. The tunnel also needed to be re-equipped with new ropes and a communication line had to be drawn. Some narrow cave passages needed to be widened as Dickey was being moved up on a stretcher.

As of Monday morning, Dickey had ascended to 300 meters below ground, and was to head to a point 180 meters from the surface. There, he was scheduled to stop at one of the established camps to receive medical assessment and some treatments.

“If everything goes well, he might be out of the cave today or tomorrow,” said the NJ-IRT in an update.

A GoFundMe page set up in Croton to help with the international costs of the rescue has raised $60,363 of its $100,000 goal. According to its organizers, "Many thanks to everyone who is contributing to Mark Dickey's rescue from Morca! The last cave rescue of this scale (Riesending, 2014) required 700 rescuers over the course of 2 weeks and cost approximately 960,000 Euros (about $1 million). This GoFundMe is currently set to $100,000 and this will only be a start for the expenses. The funding will be put to good use towards the travel, food, gear and supplies that the rescuers have needed. This is a complex and expensive operation and your contributions to this effort are making a good impact towards supporting those involved!"

The Associated Press contributed to this report.