Explorer Got Trapped in the Same Cave Twice in 17 Months

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Rescue crews successfully retrieved an injured speleologist (a person who studies and explores caves) from a remote cave in Italy after she spent three days trapped there. Incredulously, it’s the second time the explorer got trapped in this cave in less than two years. In June 2023, she was stuck there for two days with a broken leg. Now that she’s rescued, she says she’s never stepping foot in the cave system again, and we don’t blame her.

Ottavia Piana, 32, was exploring an uncharted part of the Bueno Fonteno cave when a rock gave way beneath her. Piana fell 5-6 meters (16-19 feet) and injured her vertebrae, ribs, face, and knee. More than 100 people stepped up to help extract Piana from the cave, which took 75 hours, according to the Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico (CNSAS).

CNSAS shared multiple updates on social media during the rescue operation. Some accuse Piana of being reckless, and they bemoan the public funds devoted to her lengthy rescues. Others note that her work is of consequence for science, and she has just been unlucky to require rescue twice in such a short period of time.

The Times reports that Sergio Orsini, head of the Italian Speleological Society, says Piana and her group were in the middle of making a “fundamental” contribution toward mapping the cave system when the incident occurred.

See the CNSAS’s final post about the 75-hour-long cave rescue in Italy here: