ナショナルジオグラフィックさんのインスタグラム写真 - (ナショナルジオグラフィックInstagram)「Photo by Robbie Shone @shonephoto / In August 2017, 49 years after it was discovered, explorers reached a depth of 2,212 meters (7,257 feet) in Veryovkina, a cave located in the Caucasus Mountains, and set a new record for the world’s deepest cave. In September 2018, we joined members of the Perovo-Speleo caving team from Moscow. I wanted to capture their work as they pushed the boundaries of exploration deep beneath the earth. It took four days of abseiling (rapelling) and thrutching through tight, meandering passages to reach the bottom. We spent a week camped at 2,100 meters (6,889 feet) deep, from where we made “day” trips to the bottom. Here, the late Pavel Demidov climbs above swimmers in the terminal sump who are looking for the way on. On day 11, everything changed dramatically when a flood pulse hit us in the cave. We waited at camp as the rumbling sound of a freight train getting louder and louder made its way through the inky blackness above. It hit us and continued downward. After a few hours everything started bubbling and gurgling. The water rose so fast, we barely had time to get kitted up and out of the way. We left all nonessential gear, including all my camera equipment. I took only my precious memory cards that stored these photographs showing the cave before the flood. The last people to leave camp (Pavel and Andrey) had to swim over the tent at camp to escape. The shafts and passages became a fierce torrent of water that was difficult to find air space to breath in. In total the water rose 130 meters (427 feet) above the base level.」1月29日 6時31分