Erasto Crisanto Valdez was rescued after being trapped in an underwater cave in Mexico on Aug. 7
The 31-year-old survived by drinking rainwater and finding an air chamber in the "pitch-black" cave
Authorities conducted a 15-day search operation involving land, river and air efforts to locate Valdez alive
A fisherman was rescued after 15 days of being trapped in an underwater cave in Mexico.
Erasto Crisanto Valdez disappeared in a cenote while fishing with his father in San Francisco La Paz on July 23, according to the Municipal Government of Uxpanapa (MGU). The 31-year-old got lost after going underwater in the area, Mexican outlets Excélsior and La Jornada reported.
After a 15-day search operation, authorities located Valdez, 31, alive on Aug. 7, "more than 100 meters (328 feet) deep inside a cave" in the cenote where he went missing, the MGU announced on Facebook.
"After an exhaustive 15-day operation coordinated by the Civil Protection of our municipality … today the citizen Erasto Crisanto Valdez, a fisherman who was missing in the Chimalapas region, was located alive," said the MGU.
Footage shared by the government shows Valdez being carried on a stretcher up a mountain by team members moments after being rescued.
"The rescue operations involved an unprecedented deployment on land, river, and air, guided by the firm conviction of not giving up until finding him," said the MGU. "This historic achievement is the result of the close collaboration and joint effort of the three levels of government and high-level specialists."
Mexico's Civil Protection, Secretariat of Public Security and the Secretariat of the Navy-Military of Mexico worked together on the search operation, per the MGU.
Valdez was transported to a local hospital where he remains under medical care, after suffering severe dehydration due to a lack of food and water, per Excélsior and La Jornada.
In a translated interview posted on Facebook, Valdez said he survived in the cave because there was an air chamber and rainwater to drink.
"I went inside … and then, when I turned back, I couldn't find the exit," he said from a hospital bed. "I was just swimming aimlessly, trying to get out, but there was no way out … I don't know how I got there — or how I spent those 15 days inside."
"When I first entered that cave … I never imagined there was an air chamber there … Those 15 days felt like only three days to me," Valdez recalled. "There's a spring running through the middle … so when I felt thirsty or hungry, I'd drink the water from the cenote."
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Valdez noted that it was "pitch black" in the cave. "I couldn't see a thing out there — you could only hear the lake — and I couldn't tell if it was day or night," he said, adding, "I kept my faith in God … to help me survive."
"The family of Valdez will finally be able to reunite with him," said the MGU. "Regarding his medical condition, it is reported that his health status will remain under strict reserve until the specialists and medical team that treats him determine what is appropriate."
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