But some good news emerged on Friday: officials said forty-year-old Mark Dickey's condition is stabilizing, as more than 150 rescuers from Turkey and other countries race to safe him.
Tulga Sener is the head of the rescue commission medical unit:
"Mark's health condition is stable now, his vital signs are normal, all of them are normal. No breathing problems, no pulse problems, no breathing problems, and no vomiting. Until today, we gave four units of blood cell solution to him and also some medications for his stomach and for his general condition."
Dickey: "Hi, I'm Mark Dickey from nearly 1,000 meters"
Dickey was on an international exploration mission in the Morca cave in the Taurus mountains when he began suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding while underground...
In a video message recorded Wednesday, Dickey described his situation while thanking rescuers for working to get him out:
Dickey: "So I don't quite know what's happened, but I do know that the quick response of the Turkish government to get the medical supplies that I needed in my opinion saved my life. I was very close to the edge when Jessica got back to me... as you can see I'm up, I'm alert, I'm talking. But I'm not healed on the inside yet so I'm going to need a lot of help to get out of here."
Footage from the operation showed rescuers setting up camp outside the cave's sinkhole, Turkey's third largest.
According to the head of search and rescue for Turkey's AFAD disaster management authority, the operation to bring Dickey out could take days.
