‘CLOSE TO FADING’

Trapped American Adventurer Vows to ‘Never’ Stop Caving

“Man, I was happy to get to the surface and see those stars and smell the fresh air,” Mark Dickey said.

An American cave expert who was rescued after falling ill while more than 3,000 feet underground in a cave in Turkey told CBS News that despite his “crazy, crazy adventure,” he has no intention of giving up his passion. “Never!” the 40-year-old said, going on to explain that he’s already thinking ahead to an expedition tentatively planned for next month, after he’s discharged from the hospital. He explained to the network that “caving is not inherently a dangerous sport,” but that the cave he was in was “a dangerous location.” Dickey entered the Morca Cave on Aug. 30, and reportedly began suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding on Sept. 2. As his fiancée made the frantic climb back up to the cave’s entrance to alert authorities, who would go on to mobilize a massive rescue response involving more than 200 volunteers, Dickey got “pretty close to fading,” he told ABC News on Wednesday. He was eventually pulled out of the cave just after midnight on Sept. 12. “Once we started moving, it happened a lot faster than I expected,” he said. “Man, I was happy to get to the surface and see those stars and smell the fresh air.”