site.btaBulgarian Rescuers Return from Morca Cave Operation in Turkiye

The Bulgarian rescuers who took part in the rescue of the American speleologist Mark Dickey, who was stranded at a depth of more than 1,000 meters in the Morca cave in southern Turkiye, landed in Sofia Wednesday morning.

The American was taken out of the cave shortly after midnight on September 12. He had been stranded there since September 2, and several international teams were involved in his rescue.

Four volunteers - Ivo Kolchakov, Todor Ivanov, Nikolay Petrov and Dimitar Hristov - landed at Sofia airport. The rest 19 Bulgarian rescuers will return by car.

Kolchakov, who was the leader of the Bulgarian group, said that the most difficult part was the coordination between the different teams. Staging camps are built at such depths. Because many people enter the cave, a lot of equipment and food has to be brought in, he explained. This took a considerable amount of resources from the people who were carrying luggage, including blood for transfusions, the rescuer added. In our group, Todor and Dimitar were all the time at a depth of 1,000 metres and together with the Croatian group, in my opinion, they carried the biggest burden of the action, Kolchakov stressed.

Hristov said that such rescues are extremely rare and that he knew of only one other such operation at such a depth. Hristov is proud that Bulgaria was represented in the international operation.