By early this afternoon, the 52-year-old had ‘arrived safe and sound at a hospital,’ Bavarian mountain rescue chief Norbert Heiland said.

The final stage of the rescue, which involved hauling Mr Westhauser through a labyrinth of narrow passages and precipitous vertical shafts, began on Friday after several days of preparation.

After a short pause overnight, rescuers resumed work early this morning morning and brought Westhauser the final 590 feet to the surface just before noon.

A fit expert could scale the distance
from the site of the accident to the entrance in about 12 hours, but
rescuers had to haul Mr Westhauser on a stretcher through the
challenging terrain.

The first words Mr Westhauser uttered
upon seeing Italian rescue workers approach him on Saturday morning
were: ‘I am feeling OK.’

Rescue workers put Mr Westhauser into a police helicopter perched on a tiny landing spot near the entrance to the Riesending cave after the final phase of the transport of the injured spelunker

The helicopter takes off to transport Mr Westhauser to hospital, 12 days after he injured himself in the cave

Cave rescue specialists stand next to the cave entrance after completing the evacuation of Mr Westhauser. Specialists from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Croatia were drafted in as part of the rescue mission

After
two days treating him inside the caves, rescuers finally strapped Mr
Westhauser to a stretcher, to begin the process of carrying him out of the
network of tunnels. 

‘We are
very glad that the patient is able to tolerate the transport so well,’
doctor Johannes Schiffer said as the rescue was underway.

Mr Westhauser had a heating system and a neck
brace attached to him in a bid to avoid further brain swelling on his
journey back to the light.

Some
German media reported that doctors considered boring into his skull
while underground to relieve pressure on his brain, but it is unclear
whether this procedure was actually carried out.

Transport: Rescue workers finally started the process of winching injured cave explorer Johann Westhauser to safety yesterday after he spent a week trapped 3,200 feet below ground

Rescuers had strapped Mr Westhauser to a stretcher (pictured), as they transported him through the labyrinth

Despite having
suffered a serious brain injury, certain passages within the caves are
so narrow that the explorer was expected to get up and walk himself.

Foam, of the type used
in building to insulate walls, had been sprayed on him to both cushion
and warm him on his journey.

He was also medicated – tranquilised, in
effect – to keep him calm in the cold, pitch darkness where progress was expected to be agonisingly slow.

There
were, for example, five shafts measuring 200 feet each, that he had to
be pulled up with only a few centimetres between him and the dripping
rock face.

A graphic shows where the cave explorer was stuck – far from the entrance of the complex cave system

Mr Westhauser was seriously injured by a falling rock while he was wearing a helmet during the early hours of last Sunday morning.

By the time a paramedic reached his side he was already showing the first signs of hypothermia, as the temperature in the spot where he is lying underground never reaches above 3C.

It could only be reached by crawling through a labyrinth of tiny spaces, rappelling down sheer drops and making difficult climbs in the pitch dark.

Cave rescue specialists from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Croatia were drafted in as part of the rescue mission.

The giant Riesending complex is under the Untersberg mountain range. According to legend, the Holy Roman Emperor sleeps beneath the mountains and will one day emerge to lead Germany to glory.

The entrance to the caves was only discovered in 1995. Mr Westhauser’s expedition had set out to map uncharted areas of the cave and was scheduled to take a month.

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