An experience cave researcher and his team of two had gone into the Riesending cave system in the Alps to do measurements. He was hit in the head and spent two weeks underground until the the multinational rescue operation took 700 people from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Croatia, was successful.
“Since the birth of caving, there have been only two incidents of this depth, complexity and difficulty,” Italian rescuer Roberto Conti said.
It would take a fit climber only 12 hours to do the climb, but with the injured patient on the stretcher the rescue bore many challenges. The rescue became a media event in particular in Germany.