NJ Scientist Successfully Rescued From Turkish Cave

NEW JERSEY — The scientist and cave explorer who fell ill while exploring one of Turkey's deepest caves more than a week ago has returned to the surface and is in stable condition, a New Jersey-based rescue team said Monday evening.

A massive rescue operation launched over the weekendto bring Mark Dickey safely out of a labyrinthine cave system, after he suffered life-threatening gastrointestinal bleeding and vomiting while underground more than a week ago.

More than 150 cave rescuers and medical personnel began descending to Dickey's location, more than 1,000 meters (3,000 feet) below ground, on Saturday. The New Jersey Initial Response Team said he was safely out of the cave shortly before 6 p.m. Monday.

The 40-year-old is also chief of the NJ-IRT, a volunteer rescue organization. The organization shared a statement Monday night on behalf of his parents Debbie and Andy, who said the fact he is out of the cave safely " is indescribably relieving and fills us with incredible joy."

"We are so very thankful and grateful that the support he needed was given to him and that the first medical rescue team to arrive reached him when they did," Debbie and Andy Dickey said. "It has been a tremendous out-pouring of help from the international caving community, including cave rescuers and doctors working on-site and those significantly contributing to the rescue effort off-site."

Dickey, who residents in New York's Hudson Valley, is an experienced caver and cave scientist (or speleologist). He is also a national instructor at the National Cave Rescue Commission, according to his Facebook page.

He was leading an expedition to explore the Morca Cave in southern Turkey when he "suddenly became ill" last weekend. His conditions rapidly worsened to life-threatening gastrointestinal intestinal bleeding and vomiting, according to the New Jersey Initial Response Team.

While Dickey's fiancé and fellow caver Jessica Van Ord remained with him underground, another expedition team member began the arduous and technical climb back out of the cave to sound the alarm.

Doctors were able to reach him Tuesday, Sept. 5 and give him fresh blood and fluids, according to the NJ-IRT, a volunteer search and rescue organization that Dickey serves as chief of.

A multi-national group of caving experts, rescuers, and other personnel began gathering near the entrance to the cave in the southern part of the country, before launching the rescue Saturday.

The most challenging part of the rescue operation was widening the narrow cave passages to allow stretcher lines to pass through at low depths, said Yusuf Ogrenecek of the Speleological Federation of Turkey.

The extraction was expected to take up to 10 days, depending on Dickey's condition.

A GoFundMe to help defray the cost of the rescue has raised more than $60,000 as of Monday at 7 p.m. The fundraiser is being organized on behalf of the NCRC.

Last week, Dickey thanked the caving community and the Turkish government for their efforts in a video message from inside the cave.

“The caving world is a really tight-knit group and it’s amazing to see how many people have responded on the surface,” he said. “I do know that the quick response of the Turkish government to get the medical supplies that I need, in my opinion, saved my life. I was very close to the edge.”

The New Jersey Initial Response Team also thanked a multitude of people for "their efforts to successfully rescue our friend and Chief, Mark Dickey." This included the Turkish Ministry of National Defence, Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, European Cave Rescue Association, and the cave rescuers themselves.

The rescue team included cavers from Hungary, Italy, Croatia, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Poland. Several American cavers also responded to assist Dickey, including Clark native Kevin Mulligan and other cavers Kelly McDermott and Emily Hollingsworth.

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