Injured explorer rescued from Germany's deepest cave after 12 days

An explorer who got injured at the bottom of Germany's deepest cave 12 days ago has re-emerged after a rescue operation that could lead to the Riesending cave complex being closed for good.

Bavarian mountain rescue authorities confirmed that Johann Westhauser had been brought out of the top of the cave at 11.44am local time.

A mobile emergency unit had been awaiting Westhauser at the cave entrance. Shortly after midday, he was airlifted to a hospital in Murnau, Bavaria. Even though Westhauser suffered head injuries during his accident that have not had adequate treatment for more than a week, the mission leader Klemens Reindl said the evacuee was in good health considering the circumstances.

The logistics of the rescue mission, involving 728 people from five countries and estimated to have cost several million euros, has captured the imagination of the German public since climbers arrived at the site of the accident last Friday.

On Sunday 8 June, Westhauser was injured by rockfall at a depth of about 950 metres and a distance of four miles (6.5km) from the cave entrance.

Originally it was expected that the rescue mission would be finished on Wednesday night, but it was delayed by complications during the final stretch, a 180-metre vertical shaft through which the explorer had to be pulled on a winch.

According to the mountain rescue services, the mission employed a manual pulley system in the final phase, with members of the team reportedly abseiling down as a counterweight to the 100kg stretcher carrying Westhauser.

At a press conference in Berchtesgaden, Norbert Heiland, of the Bavarian mountain rescue service, said the mission had opened "a new chapter in Alpine history", likening it to the 1957 rescue of the Italian mountaineer Claudio Corti from the north face of the Eiger, widely regarded as one of the greatest rescue operations of all time.

"Previously many had doubted that a rescue at 1,000 metres depth was possible," Heiland said. "The difficulty and complexity of the operation was unprecedented."

According to the leader of the Swiss rescue team, Andy Scheurer, the different international groups had "grown into one big family" during the mission, while the Austrian representative said that "even the strongest lads had tears in their eyes" when the team emerged into daylight.

Westhauser, 52, a scientist at the Karlsruhe Technology Institute, is part of a team of researchers who have been exploring the Riesending cave since 2002. Discovered in 1995, its name translates as "gigantic thing", reportedly after an exclamation uttered by one of the other explorers, Hermann Sommer: "What a gigantic thing!" Other explorers have described the cave as "an Everest of the deep".

The local authorities, for whom the media attention has caused numerous headaches, are likely to see consequences from the accident: next week, the local council will vote on closing down the cave.

"The danger of future missions in the Riesending cave is just too great," said Thomas Weber, the mayor of Bischofswiesen district. "The extreme public accessibility has led us to submit a request for the closure of the cave."