Italian caver, 20, rescued after 12-hour ordeal trapped 120 metres underground in Piedmont's 'Flying Boars' cave
A 20-year-old speleologist from Liguria was pulled to safety early Monday after a massive overnight operation freed his leg from a 250-kilo boulder in the Grotta dei Cinghiali Volanti near Garessio, Italy.
A complex, multi-region rescue operation concluded successfully at 5:40 a.m. on Monday, 1 June 2026, freeing a 20-year-old speleologist who had been trapped for over 12 hours at a depth of 120 metres in the Grotta dei Cinghiali Volanti (Flying Boars Cave) in the municipality of Garessio, in the province of Cuneo, Piedmont.
The accident
The young man, a Ligurian, was on an underground exploration with a group on Sunday afternoon when a large boulder, estimated by some reports to weigh around 250 kilogrammes, detached as he passed and pinned his leg. His companions, who were able to exit the cave, raised the alarm around 5:00 p.m. The caver remained conscious and cooperative throughout the ordeal, assisted remotely by medical personnel from the national Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps (CNSAS) specially trained for such environments.
The rescue operation
A total of 42 technical specialists from the CNSAS were deployed from the Piedmont, Liguria, and Lombardy regions, including eight medical personnel and eight "disostruttori" — technicians specialised in complex underground interventions. The first rescue team reached the incident area within an hour, descending to the trapped caver and establishing a telephone line to maintain contact with the surface. Efforts focused on reducing the size of the boulder and widening narrow passages in the cave system to allow for a possible stretcher evacuation.
The possibility for the injured person to actively collaborate during the evacuation made the recovery operations faster and easier.
Medical assessment and extraction
Once the boulder was removed, a small medical camp was set up inside the cave to conduct a thorough assessment. The caver's clinical condition was determined to be good overall, and he did not require stretcher transport. His ability to assist actively during the evacuation helped accelerate the exit, though the operation still lasted several hours due to the complexity of the hypogean environment. He was handed over to medical staff and transferred to hospital for further checks.
- Alarm raised by the caver's companions after a boulder pins his leg at 120 m depth.
- First rescue team reaches the incident area and establishes contact with the trapped caver.
- 42 specialists are actively working to reduce the boulder and widen cave passages for potential stretcher evacuation.
- Boulder is removed; a medical camp is set up inside the cave to assess the caver's condition.
- Rescue operation concludes successfully; the caver is extracted alive and transferred to hospital.
The cave system
The Grotta dei Cinghiali Volanti is part of the Rocca d'Orse karst area in the Val d'Inferno, a rugged region frequented by hikers, geologists, and speleological teams for research and exploration. Discovered in autumn 2007 by the Speleo Club Tanaro, the cave features an extensive underground network developed beneath the Garb della Donna Selvaggia, another cave in the area.
Multi-agency response
In addition to the 42 CNSAS specialists, the operation involved the Carabinieri, the helicopter rescue service of Azienda Zero of the Piedmont Region — which supported the transport of personnel and materials at altitude — and volunteer firefighters from Garessio and the SAF (Speleo-Alpine-Fluvial) unit of Cuneo. In total, 53 Alpine and speleological rescue technicians from various Italian regions participated in the intervention.
