Injured Italian caver lifted to safety after four-day rescue operation | Italy

An injured woman trapped in a cave in northern Italy has been lifted to safety, ending her four-day ordeal.

Ottavia Piana, a speleologist, was rescued in the early hours of Wednesday. She had been exploring an uncharted area of the Bueno Fonteno cave near Bergamo on Saturday afternoon when she fell five metres, fracturing her face, ribs and knees.

More than 150 experts worked around the clock to bring her to safety, a delicate procedure that involved strapping the 32-year-old to a stretcher and transporting her through 4km of narrow tunnels. Blockages to the path were cleared using small explosives, while the team periodically stopped to check Piana was still conscious.

The rescue operation was accelerated on Tuesday owing to concerns about her injuries. Piana was transported by helicopter to hospital in Bergamo.

“We worked with concern for what was also a clinical situation,” Mauro Guiducci, vice-president of the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps, told a press conference. “The morphology of the cave also made it difficult, with some areas at risk of a landslide, which is also why the accident occurred, as a rock gave way beneath her feet.”

Another rescuer, who gave his name only as Antonello, said: “The more time passed the more tired and sore she was, but she could also feel the outside getting closer.”

Piana had entered the cave with eight others as part of an expedition to map the unexplored section of the Bueno Fonteno, a labyrinth of caves and tunnels that challenge even the most experienced speleologists.

It was the second time in 17 months Piana had needed to be rescued from the same cave. On the first occasion she broke her leg and was trapped for two days.

Rino Bregani, an Alpine rescue medic, told the Italian press that Piana now wanted to “abandon speleology forever”. He added: “She’s speaking very little, but said she would never enter a cave again.”

The rescuers came from across Italy. Federico Catania, from the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps, said Piana was an expert with a lot of experience, who had been properly equipped for the expedition. “We don’t judge the people we help,” he added. “We just know that there is a person in difficulty and we intervene. We can perhaps judge some inexperienced behaviour, but this was not the case.”