Injured Italian cave explorer Ottavia Piana was freed after a 75-hour rescue

Caver Ottavia Piana was flown to hospital after an arduous rescue deep underground in a cave system in the Bergamo region of northern Italy.

Piana, 32, had been exploring an unknown area of ​​the Abisso Bueno Fonteno cave on Saturday afternoon when a rock beneath her feet gave way and she fell 5-6 m (16-19 feet), injuring her vertebrae and ribs , face and knees tightened.

More than 150 volunteers, led by the Italian Alpine and Cave Rescue Corps, took part in the operation and their stretcher was brought out around 03:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) on Wednesday.

Piana is an experienced cave explorer and it was the second time in 17 months that she had been rescued from the cave system.

“She is tired, exhausted and in pain… We managed to do this,” said Giorgio Pannuzzo, a rescue worker who was with her at the time of the accident on Saturday.

“There was an ice-cold wind right at the entrance (to the cave), and if we had stopped, she would have suffered even more from the cold. So we were in a hurry,” he told Italian media.

Piana was participating in a project to map a previously unknown area of ​​the Abisso Bueno Fonteno cave system when she fell.

The area between Lake Iseo and Lake Endine consists of a network of caves, tunnels and underground galleries, most of which have never been explored.

Rescuers spoke of a race against time to save her due to her injuries. Dozens of volunteers took turns carrying their stretcher and clearing the many obstacles that stood in their way.

They had to navigate narrow tunnels and sometimes use small explosive charges to get them out.

According to the Alpine rescue service CNSAS, 159 volunteers from 13 Italian regions took part in the operation. “The injured woman was constantly monitored and cared for by a total of six doctors and eight nurses,” it said. “The rescue operation ran continuously for 75 hours.”

During the operation, Piana told her doctors that she never wanted to enter the cave again.