Faithful Ottavia Piana was airlifted to hospital after an arduous rescue operation deep underground in a cave system in the Bergamo region of northern Italy.
Piana, 32, was exploring an uncharted area in the Abiso Bueno Fonteno cave on Saturday afternoon when a rock collapsed beneath her feet and she fell 5 to 6 meters (16 to 19 feet), injuring her vertebrae, ribs, face and knee. .
More than 150 volunteers took part in the operation, led by rescue teams in the Italian Alps and caves, and her stretcher was removed at around 03:00 (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
Biana is an experienced cave scientist, and this was the second time in 17 months that she had been rescued from the cave system.
“She is tired, exhausted and in pain… We succeeded,” said Giorgio Panozzo, a rescue volunteer who was with her at the time of the accident on Saturday.
He told Italian media: “There were freezing winds at the entrance (to the cave) and if we had stopped, it would have suffered more from the cold. So we were in a hurry.”
Piana was participating in a project to map a previously unknown area of the Abiso Bueno Fonteno cave system when she fell.
The area between Lake Iseo and Lake Inden includes a network of caves, tunnels and underground passages, most of which have never been explored before.
Rescuers spoke of a race against time to extract her due to her injuries. Dozens of volunteers took turns carrying her stretcher and removing the many obstacles in their way.
They had to navigate narrow tunnels and sometimes use small explosive devices to get them out.
The CNSAS Alpine Rescue Service said 159 volunteers from 13 Italian regions took part in the operation. He added, “The injured woman was continuously monitored and assisted by six doctors and eight nurses.” He added, “The rescue operation continued without interruption for 75 hours.”
During the procedure, Piana told her doctors that she never wanted to set foot in the cave again.
