Trapped American shares inspiring video message from Turkish cave: 'Close to the edge' but doing better

American explorer Mark Dickey spoke for the first time in a video message since a severe health episode left him trapped in one of Turkey's deepest caves late last week.

"I am doing well," Dickey said in the video shared by Turkey's communications directorate. "As you can see, I am up. I am alert, I am talking. I’m not healed on the inside yet so I am going to need a lot of help to get out of here."

"The caving world is a really tight-knit group, and it’s amazing to see how many people have responded on the surface," he said in the video.