Man rescued after being trapped in Sardinian cave for 26 hours
The 31-year-old cave expert was found alive, 32ft underground, after more than 100 emergency personnel worked to free him.
Man freed after 26 hours trapped in Sardinian cave
A man has been rescued from a cave in Sardinia, Italy, after being trapped roughly 32ft (10 metres) below ground for around 26 hours after a rockfall.
The 31-year-old, Luca Olmetto, was in Gorropeddu cave at Urzulei, a town on the Italian island, when he became stuck on Sunday, according to ANSA, a local news agency.
After a major rescue effort involving more than 100 emergency workers who laboured carefully for over 24 hours, Olmetto was found alive and brought out on Monday afternoon, the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps said.
Olmetto, who studies caves, was then flown to hospital for additional medical checks and treatment, local media reported.
He had been exploring the cave, which lies along a mountain range in central-eastern Sardinia, when rock suddenly gave way on Sunday afternoon.
A rescue operation then got under way, led by the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps and the local fire department.
It was a "particularly complex operation", the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps said in a statement posted on social media together with pictures of the team working in what they described as "extremely confined" spaces.
After carefully and manually clearing debris to reach the cave cavity, the man was brought to the surface, the statement said.
The speleologist was then stabilised and taken by helicopter to hospital, it said.
In a social media post, the council of Codrongianos, a town in north-west Sardinia where Olmetto is from, said: "After hours of great anxiety, the news that the entire Codrongianos was waiting for has finally arrived: Luca is out of the cave!
"It has been a difficult hour, during which the entire community has been on edge following the rescue operations," the post continued.
The council of Codrongianos thanked the rescuers "who worked tirelessly to reach him".