Moment sportswoman emerges after spending 500 DAYS alone in a cave

Moment extreme sportswoman, 50, emerges into daylight after spending 500 DAYS alone in darkness living 230ft deep in a cave with no contact with the outside world

  • Beatriz Flamini was 48 when she entered the cave, spending two birthdays alone
  • She was taking part in an experiment studying the capacities of the human mind

A 50-year-old Spanish extreme sportswoman has emerged from spending a staggering 500 days alone in a 230ft deep cave with no contact with the outside world.

Beatriz Flamini stepped back into civilisation today after taking part in the experiment closely monitored by scientists seeking to learn more about the capacities of the human mind and circadian rhythms.

The elite sportswoman, mountaineer, and climber, is said by her support team to have broken a world record for longest time spent in a cave.

She was 48 when she went into the cave in Los Gauchos, near Motril, Spain, and celebrated two birthdays alone underground.

She began her challenge on Saturday, November 20, 2021 – before the outbreak of the Ukraine war, the resultant cost of living crisis, and the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

 Beatriz Flamini stepped back into civilisation today to be greeted by her support team and family members in Los Gauchos, near Motril, Spain

Beatriz Flamini stepped back into civilisation today after emerging from a 230ft deep cave where she spent 500 days alone, Los Gauchos, Spain

A broadcast on Spanish national television station showed Flamini emerging from the dark cave and towards her support team grinning 

Media coverage of the brave adventurer’s emergence into the light of spring in southern Spain was intentionally limited so as not to overwhelm her.

The events Flamini missed after spending 500 days in a cave

  • The outbreak of Russia’s war in Ukraine
  • The global energy and cost of living crisis
  • The death of Queen Elizabeth II, and subsequent ascension to the throne of King Charles III
  • Lionel Messi leading Argentina to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar
  • The death of Mikhail Gorbachev, Pope Benedict XVI, Dame Olivia Newton-John, and Pelé
  • Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed 12 times in an attack in New York 
  • An assassination attempt on former Pakistani prime minister and cricketer Imran Khan
  • Ex-US President Donald Trump’s indictment

But a broadcast on national television station TVE showed Flamini wearing dark glasses and climbing out towards her support team grinning. Wearing masks, they encircled her in an embrace.

Speaking shortly afterwards, she described her experience as ‘excellent’ and ‘unbeatable’.

Pressed for more details by reporters, she added: ‘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 spent her time underground doing exercises to keep her fit and busy, painting and drawing and knitting woolly hats. She took two GoPro cameras to document her time, and got through 60 books and 1,000 litres of water, according to her support team.

Speaking in footage provided by Timecave, as the project was dubbed, during her time in the cave, she said: ‘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 was monitored by a group of psychologists, researchers, speleologists – specialists in the study of caves – and physical trainers who watched her every move and monitored her physical and mental wellbeing, though never made contact. 

Beatriz Flamini was isolated for 500 days in a cave and is pictured during her daily life at the cave in Motril, Spain

Beatriz Flamini was pictured inside the cave near Motril, Spain with a hardhat and head tourch

She spent 500 days in the cave to take part in an experiment closely monitored by scientists seeking to learn more about the capacities of the human mind and circadian rhythms

Spanish sportswoman Beatriz Flamini hugs a relative upon getting out of a cave in Los Gauchos, near Motril today

Flamini was surrounded by team members as they held a newspaper article upon getting out of a cave in Los Gauchos

Flamini was 48 when she went into the cave in Los Gauchos, near Motril, Spain, and celebrated two birthdays alone underground

Spanish sportswoman Beatriz Flamini leaves a cave in Los Gauchos, near Motril, today, and is greeted by her family and support team

Flamini embraced a relative after being shut off from the world within the cave for a staggering 500 days on her own

According to Spanish news agency EFE, her experience has been used by scientists at the universities of Granada and Almeria and a Madrid-based sleep clinic.

They were studying the impact of social isolation and extreme temporary disorientation on people’s perception of time, the possible neuropsychological and cognitive changes humans undergo underground and the impact on circadian rhythms and sleep.

The Guinness Book of Records website awards the ‘longest time survived trapped underground’ to the 33 Chilean and Bolivian miners who spent 69 days 688 m (2,257 ft) underground after the collapse of the San José copper-gold mine in Chile in 2010.

A spokesman for Guinness was not able to immediately confirm whether there was a separate record for voluntary time living in a cave and whether Flamini had broken it.

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