Spaniard rescued after 12 days in Peru cave

Rescue workers carry injured Spanish speleologist Cecilio Lopez after his rescue from inside the Inti Machay cave, in Leimebamba, Peru, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. AP

LEIMEBAMBA, Peru — A Spanish speleologist has been rescued in Peru after 12 days trapped about 400 meters (1,300 feet) underground in a cave in Peru’s remote Amazon region.

Rescuers brought 44-year-old Cecilio Lopez out of the mouth of the cave Tuesday to cheers from an international team of 107 people who joined in the effort to get him out after he was injured deep in the cave. The rescuers, who included 58 Spaniards, hugged each other in excitement.

Doctors previously diagnosed Lopez as having two injured lumbar vertebras and he was carried into a tent and kept lying on the rescue stretcher.

Peruvian civil defense officials said he would be flown by an air force helicopter to Lima.