A complex cave rescue operation for a speleologist injured by a falling rock in the Paperino Abyss (Abisso Paperino) on Colla Termini, Ormea municipality (Cuneo province), concluded at 12:45 PM. The National Alpine and Cave Rescue Corps (CNSAS) successfully extracted the victim following a 20-hour effort.
The incident occurred around noon on Sunday, approximately half an hour after the caving group entered the cave system. The victim, positioned at the bottom of a 40-meter (130-foot) deep shaft, was struck by rockfall dislodged from above.
CNSAS technicians reached the cave entrance at 1,870 meters (6,135 feet) altitude early Sunday afternoon, entering the cave at 4:00 PM. Extricating the injured caver required complex clearing operations at multiple points along the underground route. Technicians used small explosive charges to widen three constrictions blocking passage of the stretchered victim. To navigate these tight sections, the patient was immobilized using a Kendrick Extrication Device (KED) for spinal protection in confined spaces.
A heated and conditioned medical tent was established at the accident site. Inside, two CNSAS medics, both specialists in subterranean medical rescue, stabilized and monitored the caver, who sustained a head injury. Communication with the base camp was maintained throughout via a dedicated phone line. The extraction involved traversing two vertical shafts (each approximately 15 meters / 50 feet deep), two narrow meanders, and one particularly difficult constriction.
The safe conclusion of the operation was credited to the coordinated work of over 50 technicians from CNSAS cave rescue units across Piedmont, Lombardy, Trentino, South Tyrol, Veneto, and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Once outside the cave, the speleologist was reassessed by medics and airlifted to hospital by the Piedmont Regional Air Rescue Service (Elisoccorso) of Azienda Zero Piemonte.
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