At 2.59am on Wednesday 18 December Ottavia Piana was taken out of the Abisso Bueno Fonteno cave, in the Bergamo area, where she had an accident last Saturday afternoon. At the base camp of the Fonteno sports field, the rescuers’ headquarters for more than three days, all night long the speleologist’s parents waited to hear the news that everyone was waiting for. The nightmare is over. However, now the phase of hospitalization begins for the various serious injuries he suffered in the fall.

Ottavia Piana, two kilometers to safety: “Between 36 and 48 hours to get out of the cave” from our correspondent Rosario Di Raimondo 17 December 2024

The rescues

“She’s out. Yes, we can say she’s safe”, is the announcement made by the mobile operations center of the Alpine Rescue. Corrado Camerini, doctor, one of those responsible for the rescue, was emotional: “In this last phase Ottavia felt obliged to stimulate us, to say that she wanted to go out. A sign that she was fine”.

At 3.30 the twenty people who in various capacities followed Ottavia in the final phase arrive at the base camp. Among them, Giorgio Pannuzzo. Not just any volunteer: he was with her that Saturday during the expedition. And he went into the cave twice to help her: “She’s tired, exhausted, in pain. The more time passed, the more tired she was, in pain, but she felt the outside getting closer…We succeeded. Near the entrance there ‘It was freezing wind, if we had stopped he would have suffered even more from the cold. So we went quickly. For me it was a relief to see this story end well. I felt happy.’

Gianluca Pelucchini, another of the rescuers, was in tears: “Yes, I’m excited. It was a good operation, everything went quite well.” Ottavia was taken to the hospital in Bergamo. Outside the cave her boyfriend waited for her. They managed to speak to each other, before she was taken to the helicopter, through the visor of the full-face helmet she was wearing for safety.

The accident

Piana was in the cave as part of the “Sebino Project”, a mapping plan supported by several municipalities and the University of Pavia. President of the project is Claudio Forcella, who, when he learned of the imminent exit from the cave, arrived at the base camp at 2am after having traveled an hour by car from Val Brembana: “The Sunday before I was in that cave with Ottavia – he says – I didn’t I never expected it to happen to her. A person who never takes risks for herself or others. A rigorous, precise, almost pedantic approach.”

Life and dreams as a speleologist: “It’s like traveling through time” by Brunella Giovara 17 December 2024

The speleologist fell from a height of 5-6 meters last Saturday afternoon. A piece of rock gave way under his feet, after an expedition companion had passed by. “I was unlucky, I’m sorry”, she confided in recent days to the doctors who helped her. The machine that moved to save her was impressive, led by the National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps. Over a hundred volunteers who alternated day and night for more than three days. Until this night.

“From that point we had already moved on to the outward journey”, Ottavia confided to the doctors in these painful hours, “on the way back one of us passed, then me, and the rock gave way. In 2023 the speleologist had another accident in the same cave He continued on his expeditions, which were important, according to many experts, for the knowledge of the territory.