Woman rescued from Italian cave after four days

A cave explorer in Italy has been rescued after being stuck underground for four days after a fall.

Ottavia Piana, 32, was exploring a previously unknown part of the extensive Bueno Fonteno cave on Saturday when she fell and suffered multiple fractures.

More than 100 rescuers worked in the mountains near the northern Italian city of Bergamo, bringing Piana to safety early on Wednesday.

A helicopter flew the cave explorer to the hospital.

Piana was trapped in the same cave once before - in July 2023 - and rescued after two days.

Piana was a member of a project that has been working in the huge cave on the northern shore of Lake Iseo for several years. One of the aims of the project is to create accurate maps.

The accident site is about a four-hour walk from the cave's entrance. Rescuers used explosives to widen some particularly narrow passages to allow a stretcher to pass through.

Video showed Piana wrapped in blankets and strapped to a stretcher being passed through narrow passageways by a team of helmeted rescuers.

Doctors said she had fractures to her face, ribs and knee.

with DPA