Mark Dickey spoke to ABC News' 'Good Morning America' about the dramatic rescue.
The American caver who was trapped in a Turkish cave for 12 days, Mark Dickey, appears on"Good Morning America," on Sept. 14, 2023.American caver Mark Dickey said he could tell he was "pretty close to fading" after he fell ill while on an expedition to map a 4,186-foot-deep cave system in southern Turkey.
The 40-year-old New Jersey native and New York resident was more than 3,400 feet below the surface inside the Morca Cave in the Taurus Mountains on Aug. 31 when he "suddenly became ill with intestinal problems that rapidly progressed into life-threatening bleeding and vomiting," according to the New Jersey Initial Response Team, a group of volunteers led by Dickey who specialize in cave and mine rescues.
"I knew we had to get the ball rolling if there was going to be a rescue and to have treatment started," Van OrdVan Ord made the harrowing, hourslong climb to the surface and alerted authorities about Dickey's predicament on Sept. 2. The call to help him went out from the European Cave Rescue Association that same day and hundreds of aid works from various countries responded.
from the cave at around 12:37 a.m. local time on Sept. 12, according to the Turkish Caving Federation, which described the dramatic operation as "successful.""Once we started moving, it happened a lot faster than I expected," he told ABC News. "Man, I was happy to get to the surface and see those stars and smell the fresh air."
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