In a similar situation to Dickey’s, an injured explorer was trapped in Germany’s deepest cave system in 2014. Johann Westhauser, 52, injured his head in a rock fall and was unable to leave the cave on his own. Hundreds of rescue workers were on hand to help in the rescue operation, and after 12 days Westhauser was safely returned to the surface.
In perhaps the most well-known cave rescue in recent years, a junior soccer team was trapped in a cave in Thailand for two weeks in 2018. The 12 boys and their coach were stuck in the Tham Luang Cave after heavy rains trapped them. The rescue effort took several days, and officials said the team’s coach was among “the weakest in the group” because he gave up his share of food and water to the boys.
In 2004, six British soldiers were trapped in the Alpazat caverns in Puebla, Mexico, after heavy rain flooded the cave system. Their rescue eight days later set off rumors about whether the soldiers had gone into the cave in search of uranium deposits.
And in 1991, more than 200 people mobilized to rescue Emily Mobley, who got trapped in New Mexico’s Lechuguilla Cave after she broke her leg. Thankfully, Mobley had been part of a five-person team surveying the cave and was successfully rescued the following day.