A caver who was trapped underground for over three days has been freed.
According to U.K. newspaper The Times, Ottavia Piana was rescued from a cave in Northern Italy at 3 a.m. local time on Wednesday, Dec. 18, after being trapped since Saturday, Dec. 14.
The outlet reports that the 32-year-old had been exploring the Bueno Fonteno cave tracts near Bergamo when she fell five meters after a rock shelf underneath her collapsed.
The fall resulted in her sustaining fractures to her ribs, knee and face.
According to the BBC, Italy’s Alpine and Cave Rescue Corps led the rescue operation, including 150 volunteers.
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Ottavia Piana being rescued
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Per The Times, rescuers previously said on Tuesday that Piana wouldn’t be able to reach the surface until Wednesday evening.
However, after concerns over her injuries grew, the rescue process was quickened and the caver was moved through 4km of narrow tunnels.
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Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico
The rescue mission for Ottavia Piana
In a video shared on X (formerly Twitter) by local media outlet TGR Rai Lombardia, rescuers slid Piana out of the cave while she was strapped to a stretcher.
“The last section was covered faster than expected thanks to the preventive removal of obstacles in various parts of the cave and because doctors decided to avoid long pauses,” Italy alpine rescue service told The Times.
Piana was then taken to the hospital via helicopter.
“She’s tired, exhausted and in pain…We have succeeded,” rescue volunteer Giorgio Pannuzzo, who was with Piana on Saturday at the time of the accident, told the Italian media, per the BBC. “There was a freezing wind right by the entrance [to the cave] and if we’d stopped she would have suffered even more from the cold. So we were in a rush.”
Piana also had to be rescued from the same tunnels back in June 2023 after a rock fell and broke her leg, per The Times. The caver was rescued during a two-day operation.
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