An American caver trapped for more than a week in Türkiye's third deepest cave with internal bleeding could be pulled to safety as early as Monday night, rescuers said.
Mark Dickey, 40, developed stomach problems on Sept. 2 while exploring the depths of the Morca Cave, a remote complex of narrow underground tunnels in southern Türkiye's Taurus Mountains.
Morca Cave's lowest point is 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) below ground, according to the county's caving federation.
Dickey fell ill at a depth of 1,120 meters (695 feet), sparking what organizers said was one of the largest and most complicated underground rescue operations ever attempted.
An international team of rescuers, fellow explorers and medics is now trying to bring Dickey to a base camp, located 180 meters below the surface.
He has been strapped to a stretcher, which sometimes needed to be lifted vertically by a rope through particularly narrow passageways.
"The rescue operation will continue from minus 180 meters after Mark has rested at the camp here for a while," the Turkish Caving Federation said.
"If everything goes well, the aim is to rescue Mark completely by tonight (Monday) or tomorrow (Tuesday)."
Officials said Dickey's health was improving thanks to emergency treatment by medics who raced to reach him underground.
"He is in good health in general. He continues to be fed with liquids," Cenk Yildiz, the head of the local branch of Turkey's emergency response service, told reporters late on Sunday.
"We have resolved his stomach bleeding issues with plasma and serum support."
In a video recorded on Wednesday, Dickey thanked the Turkish government for its help.
"The quick response of the Turkish government to get the medical supplies that I needed, in my opinion, saved my life," Dickey said.
