Spanish caver rescued in Morocco ‘in good health’

OUARZAZATE, Morocco — The sole survivor of three Spanish cavers trapped for days in a deep ravine in Morocco's High Atlas Mountains was "in good health" Monday after a complicated rescue, officials said.

Twenty-seven-year-old policeman Juan Bolivar, the only man to come out of the ordeal alive, was admitted late Sunday to the private Chifa clinic in Ouarzazate in southern Morocco.

The bodies of his two companions have not yet been recovered from the depths of the 400-metre  ravine.

Spanish public television station TVE, quoting Moroccan rescue workers, said one of the three had possibly slipped on a patch of ice, dragging the other two down with him as he fell.

Bolivar was evacuated from the scene of the accident by police on Sunday night and taken into the clinic on a stretcher, his eyes closed and legs bandaged.

"He has been examined by a multi-disciplinary team of specialists, and his state of health is good," regional health ministry official Dr Khalid Salmi told AFP on Monday.

"But after what he's been through, he needs some time to rest before being repatriated," an operation which should take place sometime this week.

Spanish media reported that Bolivar was suffering from hypothermia and was in a state of shock.

Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Monday that the rescued man was "doing well".

The foreign ministry in Madrid said Bolivar's state of health was being monitored, but did not indicate when he might come home.

It added that the recovery of the bodies of the other two men was "in the hands of the Moroccan authorities".

Dr Salmi said the bodies were still at the scene of the accident, in an area that was extremely difficult to get to.

"All teams have been mobilised so they can be brought out as soon as possible," he said.

All three potholers had been initially found alive on Saturday morning, several days after they went missing after breaking off from a group of nine Spaniards to explore different caves.

But officials said late Saturday that one man — 41-year-old Gustavo Virues — had died as rescue workers scrambled to reach the trio at the bottom of the ravine in an area where access is difficult and a helicopter cannot land.

Officials in Ouarzazate had said the other two had been "injured" and had received first aid ahead of their planned evacuation.

However the Spanish interior ministry announced late on Sunday that Jose Antonio Martinez, 41, had also died while awaiting rescue.

"My condolences to the family and friends of Jose Antonio Martinez, a chief police inspector who died in Morocco," it said in a Twitter message signed by Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz.

Martinez had broken his legs and suffered a head injury, his wife had earlier told TVE.

Fellow cavers raised the alarm on Tuesday after the trio failed to meet up with them in Ouarzazate as planned.

The three were located by Moroccan search teams in the commune of Tarmest, but heavy fog on Saturday hindered the rescue, officials said, adding that the men had not been accompanied by professional guides.