An explorer who became trapped in a cave four days ago has finally been rescued.
Ottavia Piana was traversing the area with a group when she fell from a height of over five metres.
The 32-year-old had been trapped since Saturday (14 Dec) afternoon.
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It was the second time in just over a year she got marooned there.
Last (17 Dec) night, at around 3:00am, a large rescue operation proved to be a success.
In a video, a few members of the rescue team can be seen gathered inside the cave in the Bueno Fonteno Abyss, Bergamo, Italy.
They were able to place the speleologist – a scientist who studies caves, or someone who explores caves for sport – onto a stretcher and carry her out.
Ottavia is wrapped up and covered in the video, as she appears completely lifeless.
The rescue operation involved over 120 Alpine and Speleological Rescue technicians forming five teams tirelessly working to get her out of the cave.
They came from all across the country, with additional personnel travelling from Sardinia.
As soon as Ottavia was out, she was airlifted to hospital via a helicopter in Bergamo.
She suffered trauma to her vertebrae and ribs, as well as fractures to her facial bones and knee, as reported by Need To Know.
Her parents had been waiting for her to be rescued at the base camp set up by the rescuers.
Ottavia is set to remain in hospital so that she can recover.
It was reported that this was not her first bad experience as an explorer.
In 2023, she became stuck in the exact same cave with a broken leg, and wasn’t rescued until two days later.
At that time, she was discovered at a depth of 150 metres in a spot not far from where she was this time around.
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