Operations to find the caver trapped in a cave in Urzulei since yesterday afternoon are continuing unabated. Units from the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps, thirty firefighters specialized in this type of operation, and several members of the Dorgali Civil Protection Department worked on site throughout the night.
An advanced command post has been set up near the cave in the Gorruppeddu area to coordinate operations.
The group, arriving from southern Sardinia for an excursion, was caught in a landslide of earth and rocks. A young caver was trapped 10 meters underground , his leg trapped by the rocks. He is alive but injured, practically buried by the debris.
The operations to reach the hiker, which continued throughout the night, are proving very complicated: there is a lot of material to remove, and several unstable boulders that require caution when moving to avoid them also collapsing.
Thanks to the support of the Italian Air Force, three additional Alpine and Speleological Rescue technicians specialized in clearing obstructions from central Italy and eight other Sardinian technicians were transferred by helicopter.
The cave in question is called Nurra Gorroppeddu, located at 883 meters above sea level, in a rugged area difficult to reach by car. The man was about halfway into the cave, about ten meters from the entrance, when he was nearly buried by a landslide of earth and rocks that trapped him. His fellow hikers immediately raised the alarm.
Simone Loi
(Roberto Secci collaborated)