Doctors to reach injured German cave explorer

Mont Blanc, the highest point of the Alps. Wikipedia photo

BERLIN — Germany’s mountain rescue service says doctors are close to reaching an injured explorer stuck deep inside an Alpine cave on the Austrian border.

Researcher Johann Westhauser was injured in a rock fall Sunday 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) underground, inside the Riesending cave system near Berchtesgaden.

Rescue official Robert Nagel said Wednesday that two doctors are on their way to the site of the accident, some 6,000 meters from the entrance.

He says they could reach Westhauser within hours and will then assess how the 52-year-old German can be brought to the surface.

Nagel says the tricky terrain within its vertical shafts and narrow passages means it will take about six days to bring Westhauser out.

Westhauser had been spelunking with two colleagues. A team of experts reached him on Monday.