Mark Dickey, an American researcher who fell ill more than 3,400 feet below the entrance of a cave in Turkey, has shared an video thanking medics for saving his life.
Meanwhile, rescue teams are preparing to extract him in an operation that could last three to four days.
In new footage he said he was ‘very close to the edge’ as he thanked Turkish authorities for rescuing him.
“The caving world is a really tight-knit group. It’s amazing to see how many people have responded on the surface,” Mark Dickey said.
“We’re still waiting for communications actually to reach down here. So right now it’s a day or two days worth of travel for information to get back and forth.
“I don’t quite know what’s happened. But I do know that the quick response of the Turkish government to get the medical supplies that I needed, in my opinion, saved my life.”
Mark Dickey, 40, became suddenly ill with stomach bleeding on Saturday during an expedition. He was with a handful of others in the Morca cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountain.
He was left unable to leave the cave on his own, according to the Turkish Caving Federation.
Rescuers from across Europe rushed to the cave for an operation to save him, including a Hungarian doctor, who reached and treated him.
Officials said on Thursday that Mark Dickey’s condition had stabilised and was improving.
Mark Dickey fell ill
The skilled caver was in Morca cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains when he became ill with a heavy cough and blood in his stools.
A friend of Dickey’s told NBC News that the scientist has told rescue workers that he wants to climb out himself, something that is the “underground equivalent of climbing Mount Everest.”
The friend added that Mark Dickey had been semi-conscious underground for around three days and couldn’t eat.
Officials said Thursday that Dickey’s condition had finally stabilized and was improving.
He is said to be in ‘good spirits’ and doctors would decide if he will leave the cave on a stretcher or under his own power.
“The doctors we sent down were very successful in treating him,” Cenk Yildiz, a regional official from Turkey´s disaster relief agency, told the IHA news agency.
“We are now in a position to evacuate Mark Dickey,” he added. DailyMail