Luca Olmetto, a 31-year-old speleologist, was rescued alive after a rockfall trapped him inside Sardinia’s Gorropeddu cave for about 26 hours, turning a recreational exploration into a painstaking underground emergency.

Accounts agree that Olmetto had been exploring the cave in the Urzulei mountain area on Sunday when the collapse blocked the entrance. His girlfriend, who was a few metres behind him, escaped unharmed and raised the alarm, while Olmetto remained conscious and responsive below ground.¹

One report emphasised the scale and delicacy of the response: around 48 Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps specialists, 30 firefighters and civil-protection personnel worked through the night, with a helicopter delivering equipment to secure the site. Rescuers first reached Olmetto by manually clearing rubble from a narrow passage, then removed further debris before bringing him to the surface shortly after 6pm on Monday.¹

A second account put the operation at more than 100 emergency personnel and highlighted the restrictive terrain. The National Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps described it as a “particularly complex operation” in “extremely confined” spaces, saying debris had to be removed gently by hand to access the cavity where Olmetto was trapped.²

Both accounts report that medics stabilised Olmetto before a helicopter transferred him to hospital for checks and treatment. They also point to the relief in Codrongianos, his home town: after a day of uncertainty, the local council said, “Luca is out of the cave!” and thanked crews who had worked tirelessly to reach him.²

The rescue underscored the risks of Sardinia’s largely unexplored caves, but also the importance of specialised teams able to work slowly and safely where conventional access is impossible.