Once bitten, twice shy. Well, not in this case. An injured cave explorer spent three days stuck in the same cave system she was trapped in a year ago.
Just a confession, I'm a bit afraid of enclosed spaces and the dark. So the thought of being trapped in a cave for three days sounds very much like my own personal version of hell. But to each their own I guess. The cave explorer was trapped for more than three days before rescue crews finally managed to free her.
According to The Times, cave explorer Ottavia Piana decided to go explore a cave in Northern Italy on December 14. She became trapped in the cave and wasn't rescued until the early hours of December 18. The 32-year-old was exploring tracts in the Bueno Fonteno cave. That's when she ended up falling more than five meters. She had been exploring the cave when a rock shelf collapsed underneath her.
Cave Explorer Trapped
The cave explorer experienced injuries to her ribs, knee, and face. More than 150 people turned out to try to rescue the cave explorer. It was a long and grueling process. But they managed to pull her through the narrow cave tunnels. They had her on a stretcher that they then slid up and out of the cave system.
"The last section was covered faster than expected thanks to the preventive removal of obstacles in various parts of the cave and because doctors decided to avoid long pauses," Italy alpine rescue service told The Times. From there, first responders airlifted her to a nearby hospital.
"She's tired, exhausted and in pain...We have succeeded," rescue volunteer Giorgio Pannuzzo said. "There was a freezing wind right by the entrance [to the cave] and if we'd stopped she would have suffered even more from the cold. So we were in a rush."
Rino Bregani, an Alpine rescue medic, said that the explorer wants to "abandon speleology forever." He added, "She's speaking very little, but said she would never enter a cave again."
