Man rescued after being trapped for 11 days in Germany's deepest cave
Hundreds of emergency workers from five countries battled around the clock to pull man out
Rescuers hoisted a seriously injured German caver to safety yesterday, ending an 11-day ordeal trapped in Germany's deepest and longest cave after a dramatic recovery operation.
A multi-national team of hundreds of emergency personnel had battled around the clock in a complex and costly operation to rescue the stricken man.
"The victim has been brought to the surface and is receiving emergency medical care," a mountain rescue official said after the team reached the mouth of the cave in the Bavarian Alps, where a helicopter was waiting to take him to hospital.
Explorer Johann Westhauser, 52, suffered serious head injuries in an accident about 1,000 metres below ground in the labyrinth-like Riesending cave complex on June 8.
"It was one of the most difficult rescue operations in the history of the mountain rescue service," said Klemens Reindl, who runs the mountain rescue service and supervised the operation.
"Especially, the international character of the mission was remarkable," he said in a statement, adding that 728 people from five countries took part.
Rescuers placed Westhauser on a fibreglass stretcher and negotiated a treacherous network of tunnels and chambers, underground lakes and ice-cold waterfalls.