An American caver has been rescued by emergency workers near Anamur, in southern Turkey, after he became stranded hundreds of meters underground earlier this month.

Mark Dickey is “out in the hands of a rescue worker. He seems fine at first look. He will take a chopper to Mersin hospital,” Recep Salci of Turkey’s disaster and emergency management authority (AFAD) said on Tuesday.

Dickey is an instructor with the National Cave Rescue Commission, where he has worked for 10 years, according to the website of the Caving Academy, a non-profit for cavers founded by Dickey. He is also a medical commission secretary at the European Cave Rescue Association, and the executive director at Caving Academy.

He started caving in the 1990s and has caved in 20 different states in the US, and in 10 different countries, the website said.