A Spanish practitioner of extreme sports returned to the open air on Friday morning after spending more than 500 days in a natural cave, completely cut off from the world, at a depth of 70 metres.
The sportswoman, Beatriz Flamini (50) described the experience as “excellent” and “incomparable”… despite an invasion of flies.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone for a year and a half, I’ve been alone with myself,” Flamini told a news conference in Motril, a small town near the coast in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia.
She had emerged about two hours earlier, with the help of cavers, from a cave some 10 kilometres away, at the bottom of which she had stayed since 21 November 2021 – 510 days – for a scientific experiment designed to assess the physical and mental impact of total isolation and loss of temporal bearings.
Ms. Flamini, who apologised several times for her difficulty in finding words, explained that she simply had books, artificial light and cameras to record her experiment, but she had not had a phone or device to tell the time or day of the year.
“There have been many challenges like this, but none with all the characteristics of this one: alone and in total isolation, with no contact with the outside world, with no (natural) light, with no reference to time,” commented David Reyes, a member of the Andalusian Caving Federation, which was in charge of Flamini’s safety.
Spanish Tourism Minister Héctor Gómez praised the athlete’s performance in an interview with Spanish public television (TVE), describing it as “a demonstration of extreme resistance.”
Spanish press reports say Flamini has now set a world record in this category for the longest time spent underground in total isolation.
