A Spanish sportswoman voluntarily spent 500 days alone in a cave for a scientific experiment

She saw the light again. Beatriz Flamini, a 50-year-old Spanish sportswoman, returned to the open air on Friday morning April 14 after spending a total of 500 days in a natural cave, cut off from the world at a depth of 70 meters. Descended on November 21, 2021 in this cavity located some 10 km from Motril, a small town located in the south of Andalusia, she rose to the surface with the help of speleologists, a total of 508 days if we exclude the two days of descent and ascent.

According to several Spanish media, including the daily El País, she had to interrupt this experience and go back to the surface for about a week for reasons relating to her safety, before going back down to this cave. She admitted to being reassembled, claiming to have spent this period of time alone. His stay in this cavity in the Andalusian sierra was part of a scientific experiment intended to assess the physical and mental impact of total isolation and a loss of long-term temporal landmarks.

“A demonstration of extreme resistance”

She explained at a press conference after her release that she simply had books, artificial light and cameras to record her experience, but had no phone or device to know the experience. hour or day of the year. “Challenges of this kind, there have been many, but none with all the characteristics of this one: alone and in total isolation, without contact with the outside, without (natural) light, without reference to time”commented David Reyes, member of the Andalusian Speleology Federation, who was in charge of the athlete’s safety.

The Minister of Tourism of Spain, Héctor Gómez, praised, in an interview with public television (TVE), the performance of the athlete, describing “a demonstration of extreme resistance”.