Located in Abkhazia, Georgia, the Veryovkina Cave has a depth of 2,212 metres, making it the world’s deepest cave. It was first discovered in 1968 by cavers from the Russian city of Krasnoyarsk. However, they only reached a depth of 115 metres.
There have been multiple expeditions of the cave where a team of cavers from Moscow known as the Perovo Speleoclub (PSC) explored and researched the cave.
After 30 expeditions, in March 2018, a group of Russian speleologists – led by Pavel Demidov and Ilya Turbanov got to the bottom of the 11-mile-long cave and confirmed its depth of 2,212 metres.
The cave has seen many cavers in accidents and some experiencing death.
In September 2018, a team of cavers went to explore the cave and were faced with gushing water.
Photographer Robbie Stone, who was among the cavers, said: “I just thought, ‘Oh my goodness. We have to leave right now. We cannot wait. If we just hang around, we’re all going to die.’”
He recalled a force of water hitting him so hard that it felt as though his head was “squashed into my shoulders”.
The body of Sergei Kozeev, a Russian climber, was discovered in August 2021, nine months after he fell to his death in the cave.
He reportedly died of hypothermia, as the temperature in the cave can drop to almost freezing levels and his body was recovered on August 17, 2021 following a complex retrieval operation – two weeks after cavers found him.