Italian caver Ottavia Piana rescued after 75 hours trapped underground

An injured explorer trapped underground in a cave in northern Italy for four days was carried to safety on Wednesday.

Ottavia Piana, 32, had fell while attempting to map an unexplored branch of the Bueno Fonteno cave in the province of Bergamo.

Piana suffered multiple fractures, including to her face, ribs and knee, when she fell 5 meters (13 feet) while exploring an uncharted part of the cave on Saturday, doctors said.

Removal through the narrow, uncharted part of the cave was especially harrowing. Video showed Piana wrapped in blankets and strapped to a stretcher being passed through narrow passageways by a team of helmeted rescuers, which included doctors and nurses on rotation. They stopped every 90 minutes to assess her condition.

The last leg of the rescue operation proceeded more smoothly than expected, and workers Piana strapped into a stretcher reached the cave’s mouth in the early morning hours of Wednesday.

Nearly 160 technicians from 13 Italian regions assisted in the round-the-clock rescue launched at midnight on Saturday, after being alerted by members of Piana’s team that she was injured and trapped deep inside the tunnel.

Piana’s rescuers said that the explorer herself encouraged the team.

“In the last stretch, she gave us the charge,” said Corrado Camerini, a member of the rescue team from the region of Lombardy.

“Our aim is to do our job with results: the response from the Soccorso alpino is what we expected. Our mountain rescue service is among the most effective in Europe and this also proved it,” Camerini added.

Once Piana was rescued from the cave, a helicopter transported her to Bergamo hospital. Despite her various injuries, she is in stable condition, according to authorities.

Wednesday’s rescue marked the second time in 17 months that Piana had to be rescued from the cave near Lago d’Iseo northeast of Bergamo.