Rescued explorer Mark Dickey would ‘love’ to go back to same cave where he was trapped | US News
The American caver who was rescued after becoming sick over 3,000 feet below the earth said he would ‘love’ to return to the same cave.
Mark Dickey, 40, was rescued from the Morca Sinkhole in southern Turkey on Tuesday after a medical emergency.
The cave researcher was about 3,300 feet below the surface when he began to suffer from gastrointestinal bleeding.
Dickey began coughing up blood close to the bottom of the sinkhole, which at a depth of over 4,000 feet is the third deepest in Turkey.
Rescuers estimated it would take a healthy, experienced caver over 16 hours to climb out of Morca. Dickey’s rescued was considerably harder due to his weakened state.
‘My consciousness started to get harder to hold on to, and I reached the point where I thought “I’m not going to live,”’ he said after his rescue.
Dickey’s emergency prompted a massive response from the caving community, with over 150 volunteers flying in from across Europe.
Dickey was finally pulled to safety on Tuesday.
‘I really am blessed to be alive,’ Dickey said at a press conference at Mersin Hospital. ‘It’s been a tough time.’
But the cave researcher also said he had not given up hope that he would be rescued safely.
‘There’s a difference between accurately recognizing your current risk and giving up,’ he said.
Dickey called his emergency ‘completely unpredicted’ and a ‘one-off’ occurrence, and promised he will ‘definitely continue to explore caves.’
‘There’s risk in all of life,’ he said. ‘You could get into a car accident. Countless people get injured in their own bathrooms.’
He added that it was important to continue exploring caves like Morca for scientific purposes.
‘It’s one of the final frontiers of exploration,’ Dickey said. ‘Where can you go to find places that humans have never been, never explored, never seen?’
‘Will I go back to Morca Cave? I would love to,’ he added.
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