The American speleologist who fell ill eight days ago at a depth of more than 1,100 meters in a cave in Turkey was brought to 500 meters from the surface by lifeguards, the Turkish Caving Federation announced on Sunday.
Mark Dickey, 40, suffered an abdominal hemorrhage while exploring the Morca cave system (south) with an international team.
“It is now 500 meters” deep. “Half the distance has been traveled,” reported the Turkish Caving Federation on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
His transport on a stretcher began shortly before 12:30 p.m. (GMT) on Saturday.
Mark Dickey, who was 1,120 meters underground when he fell ill, had been placed under observation on September 2 at a camp located at -1,040 meters, where he was able to receive blood transfusions and stabilize him.