Who is Mark Dickey, the American trapped in a cave in Turkey?
Rescuers are racing to save Mark Dickey, who suddenly became ill during an expedition into one of Turkey’s deepest caves. Who is he and why was he there?
A massive rescue operation is under way in Turkey to save an American who fell ill while exploring the country’s third-deepest cave. Over 150 rescuers from across Europe are trying to extract Mark Dickey, who suddenly became ill while in the depths of the Morca cave in the Taurus Mountains in southern Anatolian peninsula.
He is part of an international expedition mission that was mapping out the subterranean system that is at least 4,200 feet deep. He began to experience stomach bleeding when he was over 3,000 feet below the cave entrance. Turkey’s TUMAF caving federation said in a statement that they expect the rescue operation to take 10 days. However, depending on how Dickey’s condition develops and whether they will need to bring him out on a stretcher, the timeline could be shorter or longer.
Who is Mark Dickey, the American trapped in a cave in Turkey?
Mark Dickey, 40, is a highly trained caver, and a cave rescuer himself and well-known figure in the international speleological community according to the European Cave Rescue Association. He is the secretary of the ECRA medical committee, an instructor at the National Cave Rescue Commission and Executive Director of the Cave Academy.
In a Facebook post prior to setting off for Turkey he said that the goal was to get beyond 1,300 meters (4,265 feet) in the Morca cave. He says that he plans to do Caving Academy courses there next year as well.
Morca is currently considered the third-deepest cave in Turkey where the majority of the mountain range in which it is located is comprised of ancient limestone. Turkey’s deepest known cave is in the same mountain range but its sinkhole entrance, like that of Morca, is at an elevation nearly a thousand feet lower. So there is the potential that Morca is actually the deepest given where water from the system exits the mountain.
Dickey has participated in caving expeditions in many karst areas over the years, like the one that he is currently trapped in, where the bedrock dissolves easily.