Russian speleologists have carried out a successful expedition to reach the bottom of the world's deepest known cave in the Gagra district of Georgia's Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, reports said Sunday.
According to reports, the expedition to reach the bottom of the Krubera Cave was completed in a week.
More importantly, Russian explorers discovered that the depth of the cave, known as the "Everest" of caves, was recorded as 2,212 meters (7,257 ft) rather than the previously known 2,190 meters (7,185 ft).
American and European speleologists had previously attempted to carry out expeditions to reach the bottom of the cave, but were unable to do so, reports said.
While the expedition was expected to take place around 27 days, Russian speleologists reduced it to just a week.
The excavation team led by Russian speleologists Pavel Demidov and Ilya Turbanov noted that they discovered rare and never-before-seen species in the cave and have taken samples to analyze these in the lab.
In 2001, Krubera Cave became the deepest-known cave in the world after a team of Ukrainian speleologists reached a depth of 1,710 meters (5,610 ft). After three years, the Ukrainians carried out another expedition and reached a depth greater than 2,000 meters (6,600 ft).