Rescue teams in Turkey have successfully carried American researcher Mark Dickey up from the depth of a cave at 3,410 feet (1,040m) halfway to the surface.
“Mark is now at -500 meters as of 19:08, local time (GMT +3). Half of the rescue distance is over,” the Speleogical Federation of Turkey posted in an update on Sunday.
The well-known speleologist became trapped inside the Morca cave last Saturday, after suffering from bleeding in the digestive tract.
An international team of cave rescuers and medical personnel had been working to stabilise the cave expert before launching the operation,
Rescue teams are using explosives to blast open passages of the cave to safely extract Mr Dickey via a stretcher.
Earlier, it was estimated that the “difficult operation” would last at least three-four days, with an official from Turkey’s disaster relief agency noting it would take a healthy person 16 hours to exit.
“Our medical team is working really hard to try to keep Mark’s condition as stable as possible,” European Cave Rescue Association official Giuseppe Conti said on Sunday.