Forty-two rescue specialists from three regions worked through the night to free a twenty-year-old caver whose leg was pinned by a boulder in the Cinghiali Volanti cave in the Garessio mountains.

A young speleologist has been brought out alive after spending twelve hours trapped deep inside a cave in the Garessio mountains, in a rescue operation that drew specialists from across northern Italy.

The rescue concluded at 5:40 on Saturday morning. Operations had begun at 5:00 PM the previous afternoon, when the man’s caving companions raised the alarm after a large boulder broke loose as he passed and came to rest on his leg, pinning him 120 metres below the surface in the Cinghiali Volanti cave. The name of the cave translates as “Flying Boars.”

A total of 53 Alpine and Speleological Rescue technicians were mobilised from the regions of Piedmont, Lombardy and Liguria, of whom 42 worked directly on the operation. The first teams to reach the casualty concentrated on freeing the trapped limb. Working under the direction of specialised speleological rescue technicians, they moved the boulder safely without causing further injury or triggering additional rock falls.

Caver able to participate in ‘assisted exit’

Once freed, a small medical camp was established inside the cave itself where National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps (CNSAS) medical staff carried out a thorough clinical assessment. The evaluation confirmed that the young man’s overall condition was good and that stretcher evacuation would not be necessary. This allowed the team to plan an assisted exit in which the casualty could participate actively.

That capacity to walk out under his own power, albeit with support, was significant: the cave’s complex underground environment and the technical difficulty of the route meant that even an assisted exit took several hours. He was handed over to paramedics at the surface and taken to hospital for further assessment.