Luca Olmetto rescued alive after cave rockfall in Sardinia

Luca Olmetto, a 31-year-old speleologist from Codrongianos, was rescued alive on Monday, 12 October, after a rockfall trapped him about 10 metres below ground in a cave near Urzulei, eastern Sardinia. He spent about 27 hours underground before rescuers freed him and took him to hospital by helicopter.

The operation required rescuers to clear rock and earth from a narrow, unstable space while supporting the cave walls against another collapse. Olmetto was reported conscious after he was brought out, but the available reports do not establish the extent of his injuries or his subsequent recovery.

How Luca Olmetto became trapped near Urzulei

Olmetto entered the cave on Sunday, 11 October, with his girlfriend, according to La Nuova Sardegna. She was several metres behind him when the roof collapsed in front of her. She escaped, raised the alarm and remained at the site while rescue work continued, the newspaper reported.

ANSA placed the cave in the Supramonte area and said the alarm was raised at about 14:30 on Sunday. It reported that Olmetto was trapped roughly 10 metres below ground. The reporting establishes a roof collapse and rockfall, but gives no further verified account of what caused the collapse.

How rescuers cleared the unstable passage

Rescuers established communication with Olmetto on Sunday evening and found him alive and alert, ANSA reported. Medical personnel monitored him as teams worked through the debris. That contact provided rescuers with information about his condition during an operation that continued into the following day.

The space available to the team measured about 1.5 metres by 1.5 metres, according to ANSA. Further collapse was a risk. Rescuers gradually removed material by hand and put support boards against the walls to shore them up as they advanced toward Olmetto.

La Nuova Sardegna also reported that debris had to be taken out gradually to avoid another collapse. The Guardian described a continuous, complex effort to clear rock and earth from the passage. The need to stabilise the cavity meant that removing material was only one part of reaching him safely.

About 48 experts from the Sardinian Alpine and Speleological Rescue Corps and 30 firefighters took part, alongside civil-protection staff, according to The Guardian. La Nuova Sardegna reported that the Air Force provided air support and that its Rescue Coordination Centre coordinated the air-rescue mission after requests from the national cave-rescue corps and the prefecture.

What is known about Olmetto’s condition

ANSA described Olmetto as injured but alive and conscious when he was freed. The Guardian reported that he had been conscious and responsive during the rescue and was stabilised by medical staff before the helicopter transfer. ANSA said he was taken to hospital for examinations and treatment.

Neither the injuries nor a diagnosis or prognosis are specified in the reviewed reports. His arrival at hospital therefore establishes the next step in his care, rather than an outcome beyond the rescue itself.

In Codrongianos, the town Olmetto is from, the council expressed anxiety about the rescue and thanked those taking part in a social-media message quoted by The Guardian. Its response reflected the concern surrounding an operation that continued overnight while Olmetto remained underground.

An earlier prolonged cave rescue in Italy

The Guardian noted another Italian cave rescue in December 2024, when caver Ottavia Piana was trapped for 75 hours in the Bueno Fonteno caves. A team of 160 specialists brought her out; she sustained multiple fractures. The earlier case provides a measure of how lengthy a cave extraction can become, although Olmetto’s injuries have not been detailed.

For Olmetto, the confirmed development is that rescuers reached him, freed him from the rockfall and transferred him for hospital care. The published accounts leave his medical condition after that transfer unresolved.