The world's deepest cave with 2,000 meter long tunnels, seven times the size of The Shard, where explorers have died trying to reach the bottom
THE deepest known cave on Earth stretches seven times as long as The Shard and has almost killed many intrepid explorers.
Located on the east coast of the Black Sea, the 2,000 meter deep Veryovkina Cave is truly something to behold.
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It took 50 years and 30 expeditions for Russian cavers to reach their record depth in 2018, but they think there is still more to discover.
Veryovkina is buried in the Arabika Massif in Abkhazia – a breakaway region of Georgia – in the Gagra Mountains of the Western Caucasus.
The four deepest caves in the world are believed to be in the area.
The entrance to the cave has a cross section of 3.8 by 3 meters and a shaft depth of 30 meters.
Although it is a beautiful underground room, Veryovkina also has a dark room history of caver deaths and close calls.
In September 2018, a group of cavers entered the cave hoping to document new crevices and perhaps discover new species – but just three days into their expedition, disaster struck.
Two of the explorers gave a warning call to the rest of their crew who were behind them, alerting them to the fact that they were approaching the risk of rushing water.
The team believed they were safe and weren't concerned – until a trickling noise near their tent became “louder and louder.”
One of the cavers, a photographer named Robbie Shone, recounted the moment he knew he was in danger.
He said: “I just thought, 'Oh my God. We have to leave now. We can't wait. If we just hang around, we're all going to die.'
“The biggest stream of white water came out of this hole, and I stood open-mouthed at the sight of this huge white wall of water entering our little house.
“It got louder and louder. I'll never forget that sound Lad Bible reports.
Mr Shone said a force of water hit him so hard it felt like his head was “pressed against my shoulders”.
He added that “all hell broke loose” as his group rushed to leave the dangerous cave and begin their mile-long climb to safety.
They were separated but managed to climb through a narrow shaft to a camp stocked with food and medical supplies to replenish and recover before heading to the surface.
Others haven't been so lucky.
The body of a climber who fell to his death in the cave was found nine months after his disappearance in November 2020.
The Russian man, named Sergei Kozeev by local media, was found dead in August 2021.
Speleologists found a rope at the entrance to Veryovkina, as well as some belongings of Mr. Kozeev, before seeing the unfortunate man; his body hung from a rope more than 3,000 feet deep.
Photos on a phone discovered by his body helped missing personorganization Lisa Alert to identify him.
Some, including Union of Cavers member Evgeny Snetkov, think Kozeev was a tourist unprepared for the challenges of the world's deepest cave.
He told Radio Sputnik: “The deceased was a so-called multi-tourist, who practiced various sports.
“So he decided to study caving [the study or exploration of caves]but unfortunately he chose a difficult cave, which ruined him.
Mr Kozeev, from Sochi, spent about a week in a permanent camp about 600 meters deep before continuing his descent into more challenging sections about 900 meters deep, where he reportedly became stuck.
He reportedly died of hypothermia, as the temperature in the cave can drop to near freezing.
The explorer's body was recovered on August 17, 2021 after a complex retrieval operation – two weeks after cavers found him.
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