Injured caver rescued in 30-hour effort

Sandi Curk, the head of the regional civil protection headquarters for the Notranjska region, said the injured caver had normal pulse rate and blood pressure when she was brought out of the cave on a stretcher.

However, UKC Ljubljana told the STA the caver's injuries remained life-threatening and her condition unpredictable.

The woman, a member of a local speleology club, had been unconscious since a large stone fell on her head on Saturday evening, piercing her helmet. A medical team descended into the chasm to provide her with emergency care.

It took rescuers four hours and five minutes to extract her on a stretcher from the site of the accident at a depth of about 100 metres. She was then transported to Cerknica, in south-central Slovenia, with an ambulance before an army helicopter took her to UKC Ljubljana.

"This way we ensured that she received medical care as quickly as possible and avoided the morning rush hour and the risk of further accidents," said Curk, who praised the work of the paramedics in extremely challenging conditions.

The injured caver was brought out of the cave at around 4am this morning, Walter Zakrajšek, head of the Cave Rescue Service at the Slovenian Speleological Association, told the STA.

The injured caver was part of a group of six members of the Rakek speleology club who were exploring as yet unknown parts of Vranjedol Cave, a newly discovered cave near Cerknica. She has more than ten years of experience as a caver.

After she was hit unconscious by a falling rock, a member of the group climbed out of the cave to get help, while the others stayed with her and helped her. She was unconscious throughout, but a doctor found she was responsive to pain stimuli.

The cave has several narrow passages that had to be carefully expanded with small amounts of explosives in an operation that took ten hours. The stretcher she was brought up on was two metres long by 70 centimetres wide.

Curk, speaking at a press conference in Cerknica at noon, said that more than 150 cave rescuers were involved in the effort, which took 30 hours in total.

Luka Zalokar, the head of the intervention, said the injured caver was rescued in the shortest time possible. "We gave our best. We still had to act safely to prevent additional injuries, considering the large number of rescuers at the site."

The rescue operation from what is an unknown cave was planned with the help of the injured caver's brother, who was with her when the accident happened and fetched help, and drew a map of the cave from memory.

The Rescue Service head Zakrajšek described the rescue operation as one of the most demanding yet, also because the injured caver was unconscious. His experience shows the depth of the cave is not as important in rescue as is the problem of narrow sections. "Whether the cave is 300 or 100 metres deep, the rescue will always take around 33 hours," he said.

Curk said the rescue caught international attention, adding Slovenia could be proud to have properly trained people who can reach and help an injured person in such a situation.

Reporters were told that about half a kilo of explosive was used to extend narrow passages in five sections of the cave.