When the rescuers' hands grabbed him, after 27 hours in the dark, ten meters deep in the Gorroppeddu cave , a chorus of "Bravo!" broke out. And applause . Spontaneous, liberating. He, Luca Olmetto, 31, from Codrongianos, trapped since Sunday afternoon under the landslide that had sealed the cave, responded softly, with the only word that mattered: "Thank you." He was alive. Conscious. He resisted the cold, the stone, and the fear, while outside 78 men, including Alpine Rescue and Firefighters, dug with their bare hands to reach him. Twenty-seven hours in the dark, with ten meters of mountain above his head and a pile of debris that had sealed off his only escape route.

Thus ended, at 5:50 PM yesterday, the nightmare of the speleologist trapped in the Supramonte cave of Urzulei, after the sudden collapse of the vault ten meters below the surface. A nightmare that began on Sunday afternoon , when Olmetto, exploring a recently discovered cave, was hit by a landslide of earth and rocks, leaving him trapped ten meters below the surface. The alarm was raised by his girlfriend, who was with him but managed to free herself.

The speleologist was then taken to the San Francesco hospital in Nuoro for checks and treatment, where a prognosis could be released today.

There was also a sigh of relief in Codrongianos , where the local community had gathered with bated breath around the young man's family in the last hours.

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