American Trapped in Turkish Cave Sends Message From 3,400 Feet Deep

An American caver who became trapped more than 3,000 feet below the earth's surface when he fell ill has sent a message with an update on his condition.

Mark Dickey, 40, had been on an international excursion to map the Morca cave, located in the Taurus Mountains in the southern part of Turkey, when he began to suffer gastrointestinal bleeding over the weekend. At approximately 3,400 feet deep—more than two times the height of the Empire State building—into the cave when the medical emergency struck, he was unable to scale his way back out.

Volunteers with the Hungarian Cave Rescue Service were able to get to Dickey and provide emergency blood transfusions to stabilize his condition. But with cold, wet conditions and passages too narrow to fit a stretcher, it could take rescuers weeks to get him out. The section of cave where Dickey is currently trapped is particularly steep, and could take even a "competent, healthy caver" several hours to climb out of.

In a video message recorded Wednesday, Dickey thanked rescuers for their aid and the global cave community for its support. A doctor and paramedic are among the rescue team members down in the cave with Dickey.

"I'm Mark Dickey from nearly a thousand meters, and I want to thank everyone that's down here and thank the response of the caving community," he said in the message. "The caving world really is a tight-knit group, and it's amazing to see how many people have responded on the surface."

"We’re still waiting for communications to actually reach down here, so right now it’s a day to two days’ worth of travel for information to get back and forth," he continued. "So I don’t quite know what’s happened, but I do know that the quick response of the Turkish government to get the medical supplies that I needed, in my opinion, saved my life."

"I was very close to the edge when Jessica got back to me," Dickey explained, of his fiancée and fellow caver. "So many thanks to the Turkish government and the Turkish cavers that are helping to support the international community here. I look forward to working with everyone to safely get myself out with their assistance."

"As you can see, I am up. I am alert, I am talking. I’m not healed on the inside yet so I am going to need a lot of help to get out of here," he added.

As of Thursday, there were 116 rescuers on the site, including 28 working inside the cave, which is over 4,100 feet deep. It’s unclear what caused Dickey's medical issue, but according to the Associated Press, he's stopped vomiting and has now eaten for the first time in days.