It was held from June 30 to July 4, 2010 the cave rescue exercise
nicknamed "Cucco 2010".
The organization was coordinated by the Umbria CNSAS Regional Service
(Umbria Alpine and Cave Rescue).
The event was attended by a total of 162 CNSAS volunteers from
Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche, Tuscany, Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna,
Liguria, Puglia, Campania and Umbria. Evacuation from the cave lasted
a total of 52 hours and 40 minutes.
The Umbria Region Civil Defence System, the City of Sigillo, the City
of Costacciaro, the High Umbria Mountain Community and the High
Chiascio Mountain Community gave their support to the event.
The, invaluable, logistical support was provided by 28 volunteers of
the "Cucco" Civil Defence Group from Sigillo, the Misericordie
Association from Fossato di Vico, the Municipal Group of Montone, the
Alfa Group of Città di Castello and the Group "La Sorgente" from
Gualdo Tadino.
The main objectives of the exercise, all achieved, can be summarized
as follows:
1) Simulate a caving accident at medium depth and make the evacuation
of the allegedly injured in the shortest possible time, using advanced
techniques and materials and ensuring the necessary medical assistance
and care during the recovery activities. For this purpose the CNSAS
Medical Commission and the CNSAS Digging Commission have been involved.
2) Test the collaboration with local organizations of the Civil
Defense System, with regard to external logistics, the installation
and maintenance of field encampments hosting the numerous technicians
employed in the relief effort.
3) Experiment with an intervention protocol of between the various
CNSAS structures, institutions and Civil Defense organizations, in
order to make cooperation more fruitful and responsible.
4) Check the field operation and effectiveness of the Communication
and Documentation Commission (CCD) from the Cave Division of CNSAS.
5) Stress test the operativity of the CNSAS structure in case of long
duration rescue activities.
Recovery operations, started at 2200 Thursday, June 30, continued
until the exit of the alleged victim, which occurred Sat 0240, Sunday,
July 4. Four teams of forty volunteers each alternated in the
recovery; each one worked an average of 8 consecutive hours.
The considerable depth of the location where the accident was
simulated (the bottom of the well "Pozzo Franoso", at -562 m with
respect to the "Nibbio" entrance to the cave) and complex transactions
to ensure the safe evacuation of the stretcher, explain the relative
long time for the completion of the evacuation operations. Having said
that, since it was a practice exercise, a particular attention was
dedicated to the overall success of the recovery activities from a
technical point of view at the expense of the execution speed. In the
case of a real emergency evacuation is to be believed that the
operations would be completed in much less time.
The 28 volunteers of the local Civil Defence groups engaged in
logistics management have installed 12 ministerial mod. PI88 and
inflatable field tents, dedicated as dormitories for the technicians,
storage of warehouse equipment, office management, field and press room.
They also provided a field kitchen and a tent used as a canteen and
cooked meals with food and drinks specially designated by the CNSAS
Medical Commission, with the aim to ensure proper feeding of the
technicians engaged in long shifts.

It was held from June 30 to July 4, 2010 the cave rescue exercise nicknamed "Cucco 2010." The event was attended by a total of 162 CNSAS volunteers. Recovery from the cave lasted a total of 52 hours and 40 minutes.