Expedition News

Cavers in Krubera – Voronya are being hit by unexpected problems

Team of Lithuanian and foreign cavers, who have entered the deepest cave on Earth (Krubera – Voronya), are being chased by unexpected problems: few team members got ill, moreover, because of the heavy rains working conditions in the cave became dangerous and connection with some deeper camps last week was lost for more than 24 hours.

Now the connection is fixed and all cavers have confirmed that they are safe. According to one of Lithuanian team members Daumantas Liekis, who stays in the surface camp because of a joint inflammation, despite the heavy rains, cavers continued working as it was planed before. Some Lithuanians have already reached a depth of 1600m and will continue to descend down the cave. This week cavers are expecting to reach the depth of 2km.

As Lithuanian team leader Aidas Gudaitis was saying before the expedition, the biggest threat for the cavers in Krubera - Voronya is rain, because some parts of the cave may be suddenly flooded and working conditions then become impossible.

“All cavers, who enter Krubera – Voronya cave, contact with the surface camp every day to ask what is the current weather condition and is it safe to go into certain parts of the cave. In case of a flood, the water level in some places can rise few meters in 15 minutes time, so it would be tragic to appear there at that moment,” – said A. Gudaitis.

One of the most professional Lithuanian divers Vytis Vilkas has also faced an unexpected obstacle and was made to change his plans: because of the sudden health problems he couldn’t join the expedition.

However, members of Lithuanian team have reported that heavy rains in Caucasus have repeated this week again and there are signs of floods starting in the cave. If the weather will not get better in a few days, it might happen that all cavers will have to leave the cave and the expedition will be terminated.

Lithuanian expedition "Towards the Center of the Earth" 2012 is a part of the project "The Call of the Abyss", organized by the Ukrainian Association of Speleology (UkrSA).