For 500 days, a 50-year-old extreme sportswoman from Spain lived alone in a cave located 230 feet beneath the surface of the Earth, without any access to daylight or contact with the outside world. Beatriz Flamini recently finished participating in a closely monitored experiment organized by scientists, who aimed to study human mind capabilities and circadian rhythms. Flamini has now reconnected with society.
According to reports, a Spanish sportswoman who is an elite mountaineer and climber has spent an unprecedented amount of time inside a cave. While it is not yet confirmed by world record officials, she may have broken the record for the longest amount of time spent underground. The sportswoman, Flamini, entered the cave located in Los Gauchos, near Motril, Spain, at the age of 48. During her time underground, she celebrated two birthdays alone without any contact with the outside world.
She started her challenge on November 20, 2021, and completed it before the start of the Ukrainian War, Queen Elizabeth II’s death, and the current cost of living crisis.
Flamini emerged into daylight, wearing dark sunglasses and grinning. She described her experience as “excellent” and “unbeatable”.
“I’ve been silent for a year and a half, not talking to anyone but myself. I lose my balance; that’s why I’m being held. If you allow me to take a shower – I haven’t touched water for a year and a half – I’ll see you in a little while. Is that okay with you?”
Flamini said while she was being recorded inside the cave, “Caves are quite secure places, but very hostile to the human being and the brain because you don’t see the light of day, you don’t know how time is passing, you don’t have neurological stimulation. It’s not that the time passes more quickly or more slowly, simply that it doesn’t pass because it’s always four in the morning.”
Flamini did not interact with people, but she was under the observation of psychologists, researchers, and speleologists, who are cave specialists. Personal trainers also kept an eye on her mental and physical well-being.
The Guinness Book of Records has recognized the thirty-three Chilean and Bolivian miners who survived being trapped underground for sixty-nine days with the title of “longest time survived trapped underground.” They were stuck at a depth of 2,257 feet or 688 meters below the surface.
It is uncertain if Flamini will surpass the record set by the Chilean miners, or if her achievement will fall under a different category since her underground stay was voluntary. However, she spent an astonishing 500 days in a cave underground, which is longer than anyone has ever publicly recorded spent beneath the Earth’s surface.
