Spanish researcher rescued after he was trapped in a Peruvian cave for 12 days

Rescue workers carry injured Spanish speleologist Cecilio Lopez after his rescue from inside the Inti Machay cave, in Leimebamba, Peru, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2014. Lopez, a well-known cave explorer, was hurt when he fell inside the Inti Machay cave, where he remained trapped underground for 12 days in Peru's remote Amazon region. (AP Photo/Mauricio Munoz)

LEIMEBAMBA, Peru (AP) – A Spanish speleologist has been rescued in Peru after spending 12 days trapped about 1,300 feet underground in a cave in Peru's remote Amazon region.

Rescuers brought 44-year-old Cecilio López 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 López 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.

López became trapped after he fell 16 feet inside the Inti Machay cave in a ravine in Leimebamba district, 376 miles northeast of the capital, Lima. Rescuers said they have been getting food, water and medicine to López, but his extraction was difficult because of the remoteness of the cave and the cavern itself.