On Sunday, Egyptian Emergency Medical Services rushed to the Bent Pyramid at Dahshur after hotline 123 reported an injured visitor. Paramedics Ahmed Ali Hamouda and Ali Hassan Abdel-Meguid located the Spanish tourist about 80 meters down a passage less than one meter high and wide that sloped 26 degrees, well beyond the reach of a standard stretcher.
Her husband guided rescuers to her position. She had hurt her foot after slipping on a wooden ramp and could not climb back to the entrance. Guards helped the medics, who immobilized her leg with a board, strapped her to a hard spine board known as a spider strap, and began the ascent. The shaft was so tight that at times they were forced to crawl while hauling the stretcher.
“One of the most complex rescue missions carried out in closed archaeological sites,” said the Egyptian Ambulance Authority. The extraction lasted nearly two hours and ended to applause from other tourists. Once outside, the woman was transferred to an ambulance for further care.
The Bent Pyramid, built for King Sneferu around 2600 BCE, changes angle from 55 degrees at its base to 43 degrees higher up and still retains much of its original limestone casing. The monument and the nearby Red Pyramid reopened to visitors in 2019, and officials warn guests of the risks involved in entering the internal passages.
Produced with the assistance of a news-analysis system.