In June, 2014, a scientist was injured by a falling rock and collapsed while exploring a cave in the Germany Bavarian Alps. The site of the accident was about 1,000 meters [3,200 ft] underground. Its depth was twice the height of One World Trade Center in New York. Between his two colleagues, one stayed with him while the other came out of the cave through narrow and steep, maze-like passages for twelve hours to ask for help.
On learning the distress, the German government fully mobilized manpower and equipment. They made five camps and more than seven hundred doctors and specialists from five countries—Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, and Slovenia—participated in the rescue operation. As the inside of the cave was labyrinthine, with puddles and cliffs, the difficulty and complexity of the operation was beyond imagination. Nevertheless, the rescue team lifted up the injured on a stretcher inch by inch, and after making desperate efforts for twelve days, they finally rescued him. When the mission was completed successfully, the rescue team members embraced each other and rejoiced. “The European elite mountain rescue teams gathered and opened a new chapter in Alpine history,” said the rescue team leader in charge of the operation.
Seeing this unprecedented rescue operation where they spared nothing to save one man, let us think again the sanctity and value of life.