Underwater cave Sakaska will be explored in Bashkiria

UFA, 7 February 2018. /Bashinform News Agency, Alim Faizov/. An exploration of the unique cave of Sakaska, located in the Yumaguzinsky reservoir of Bashkiria, will be continued. On Saturday, February 10, a group of divers-speleologists from different regions of Russia will arrive in the republic again. The main goal is to study a new cave hall with white walls. It is assumed that Sakaska is Russia's longest underwater cave, the length of its underwater tunnels can reach a total of twenty kilometers. The cave is an outflow of the underground river that flows along the Sumga plateau.

The participants of the expedition will be: Maxim Chetyrin - diver-speleologist; Alexander Khizhnyak - diver-rescuer of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation, diver-speleologist; Yevgeny Mironov - diver-speleologist; Maxim Kozionov - the researcher of the underwater caves of the Northern and Subpolar Urals, the cave diver- deep-sea diver, member of the Ural branch of the Russian Geographical Society; Evgeny Runkov, the head of the expedition, explorer of the Ural, Bashkortostan and Florida underwater caves, an instructor-coach in cave and deep-sea diving, the member of the Ural branch of the Russian Geographical Society; Stanislav Polyakov, the exporer of the underwater caves in Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Samara region, the member of the Russian branch of International Underwater Cave Rescue and Recovery organization), deep-water diver, journalist.

As reported by the Bashinform News Agency, the first major speleo expedition in Sakaska was held in October 2017 and drew a great public response. Divers-speleologists found an endemic crustacean, previously not known to science. These crustaceans live at great depths and are adapted to life in total darkness: they are blind and practically not colored.

"Also the tasks of the expedition are to continue exploring the underwater cave, to make shootings in order to share the beauties of the cave with all those interested. It is also important to make a topographic survey of the cave", Evgeny Runkov said.