Urzulei, the speleologist is alive and conscious: he responds to rescuers, but reaching him is a feat.

The Sardinian hiker trapped ten metres underground since yesterday afternoon in the Gorroppeddu cave in Urzulei, due to a landslide that blocked the entrance, is alive and conscious .

Rescuers managed to contact him by voice, and the man responded.

Operations to reach and rescue the caver continued throughout the night and will continue into the morning. Dozens of specialists from the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps and firefighters are working on the scene, along with a team from the Tortolì Fire Brigade detachment, Speleo-Alpine-Fluvial (SAF) teams from the Nuoro command, and 16 USAR Medium units airlifted to Gorropeddu by the Decimomannu Air Force. A forward command post has also been set up nearby to coordinate operations. CNSAS operators and several Civil Protection units from Dorgali are also present to provide support.

The group of Sardinians, on a hike, was caught in a landslide of earth and rocks . A young caver was trapped 10 meters underground: alive but injured, practically buried by the debris.

The operations to reach it are proving very complicated: there is a lot of material to remove, and several unstable boulders that require caution when moving to avoid them collapsing as well .

Thanks to the support of the Italian Air Force, three additional Alpine and Speleological Rescue technicians specialized in clearing obstructions from central Italy and eight other Sardinian technicians were transferred by helicopter.

The cave in question is called Nurra Gorroppeddu, located at 883 meters above sea level, in a rugged area that's difficult to reach by car . The man was about halfway into the cave, about ten meters from the entrance, when he was nearly buried by a landslide of earth and rocks that trapped him. His hiking companions immediately raised the alarm.

(Unioneonline)