Rescue teams are working to extricate an American researcher after he suddenly fell ill while 3,000 feet deep inside a cave in Turkey.

Mark Dickey, 40, was on an expedition last week with his colleagues in the Morca cave, located in the Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey, when he unexpectedly began vomiting due to stomach bleeding. He was unable to leave on his own, prompting the leaders of the expedition to seek international help, the European Cave Rescue Association (ECRA) said in a statement released Thursday.

Recovery teams, doctors and paramedics came from across Europe to assist and extract Dickey, amassing to 190 people from 8 countries who have come to help the cave expert, according to The Associated Press.