Man in Italy rescued after more than 26 hours trapped in cave

A man has been rescued alive from a cave on the Italian island of Sardinia after spending about 26 hours trapped underground following a rockfall. Luca Olmetto, 31, was exploring the Gorroppeddu cave near the town of Urzulei in central-eastern Sardinia on Sunday afternoon when a rock collapse left him stuck about 10m (33ft) below the surface. About 30 rescue technicians, including doctors and specialists in clearing rubble, were sent to the site with the regional air ambulance and the fire brigade, local media reported. Mr Olmetto had been exploring the cave with his girlfriend, who was a few metres behind him and narrowly missed the collapse. She escaped unharmed and raised the alarm. Rescuers from Italy ’s National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps, working with the local fire department, reached him by late Monday afternoon after removing rubble and earth by hand from a narrow passage. They cleared the large amounts of debris covering him before bringing him out of the cavity while he remained conscious and responsive throughout the operation. The corps called it a “particularly complex operation” in a statement shared on social media with pictures of its teams working in what it described as “extremely confined” spaces. Mr Olmetto reached the surface just after 6pm local time (4pm GMT), where medical staff stabilised him before he was flown by helicopter to hospital for medical checks and treatment. The council of Codrongianos, the town in north-west Sardinia where Mr Olmetto is from, said in a message on social media that the previous 24 hours had been filled with “great anxiety for the entire community”. “After hours of great anxiety, the news that the entire Codrongianos was waiting for has finally arrived: Luca is out of the cave! It has been a difficult hour, during which the entire community has been on edge following the rescue operations.” It thanked the rescuers “who worked tirelessly to reach him”.