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Team of 53 rescuers save man stuck in 120m-deep Italian cave

Medical staff judged the man fit enough not to require evacuation via stretcher. Stock image.
Medical staff judged the man fit enough not to require evacuation via stretcher. Stock image. Picture: 123rf/Jaromir Chalabala

A caver whose leg had been trapped under a boulder at a depth of about 120m has been rescued from a cave in north-west Italy, emergency services said on Monday, adding the effort involved 53 people in total.

The overnight rescue operation took place in the Grotta dei Cinghiali Volanti (Cave of the Flying Wild Boars), one of Italy’s main caving areas, in the province of Cuneo about 120km south of Turin.

The caver was first assisted at a makeshift medical post set up inside the cave and was then taken outside to be transported to hospital by ambulance, the Alpine and Speleological Rescue Service said.

Medical staff judged him fit enough not to require evacuation via stretcher, the service said, adding the rescuers came from different parts of Italy.

He was described as an Italian national. Media reports said he is 20.