Injured caver rescued after four days in Italy
Rescue workers today pulled a cave explorer out alive from a mountain grotto in northwestern Italy, four days after he broke his ankle and became trapped underground.
RAI state television showed Igor Lelevic, 43, of Karlovac, Croatia, being hoisted out of the cave on a stretcher to the cheers of an estimated 200 workers who worked to free him. Wrapped in heat-conducting blankets, he was immediately flown by a waiting helicopter to a nearby hospital.
Lelevic broke his ankle, dislocated his shoulder and gashed his leg on Wednesday while exploring the Piaggia Bella cave in Cuneo, in the Maritime Alps near Italy’s border with France, the ANSA news agency said.
While he remained trapped because of his injuries, doctors were able to reach him and provided first aid at the scene until rescue crews cleared a path out large enough for the stretcher, ANSA said.
