==> New deep cave in Bulgaria - 177.5 m FromWorld Caving News http://www.zenas.gr/WCN => At first days of May, at Zlosten area of the Mt., new deep cave was discovered and explored. The cave was discovered by Zh.Zhelezhchev from NEPIAST- Burgas Caving Club. In the same day 4 cavers from the club supported by A.Ivanova (CC "Sofia"-Sofia) explored the cave. The surveying was done in the next day by the team from CC "Sofia"-Sofia. The entrance of the cave is located in the bottom of little funnel and was tightly blocked by soil, stones and leaves. Few expeditions made unsuccessful attempts to dig it. At last it was natural opened after the big floods in Bulgaria during March - April 2006. From the entrance a walking passage led downwards in 10 m pich with narrow meander after it. The second little pit led to the dificulty passable bolder choke ending it the top of classical 72-metres shaft. The pitch led to a huge passage with little stream and a further two piches. The second one dropped into a little lake which water runs into a narrow gallery which was not passable without neoprene suits. The total depth of the cave (up to date) is 177.5 so the cave become 4 deepest in the Kotel Mountain and No 14 in the top list of the deepest caves in Bulgaria. Now the total number of the Bulgarian caves deeper than 100 m grow from 59 to 60. Reported by Alexey Zhalov http://www.zenas.gr/site/home/eng_detail.asp?iData=4665 ==> Vietnam Centuries-old coffins rotting at ancient burial site FromWorld Caving News http://www.zenas.gr/WCN => from Vietnam NewsCenturies-old coffins rotting at ancient burial site(03-07-2006)THANH HOA A cave containing 200 centuries-old wooden coffins in the northern province of Thanh Hoa may be irreparably damaged unless it is preserved soon by archaeologists, says a local official.The cave is hidden in a dense forest near the top of a high rocky mountain at a spot where the Luong estuary merges into the Ma River in Hoi Xuan Commune, about 140 km away from Thanh Hoa City.The local ethnic Thai people have never understood the purpose of the "ghost valley", or Lung Ma, as they call it.The coffins, made from tree trunks split in half that have been hollowed out to fit an adult, have two round ends that resemble a boat.At each end of the coffin is a carrying handle, with both parts glued with resin. The coffin is placed vertically on a man-made platform in the cave.However, all of the coffins are now in disrepair and are no longer intact.Gifts for the afterlifeCao Bang Nghia, an official of the Quan Hoa District Party Committee, recalled that in the 1960s he and his teenage friends noticed that the cave was full of coffins that stood like trees in the cave. Intrigued, they opened two of them."We saw bones and other possessions," Nghia said. "I still have some bones, a beautiful stone necklace, two ancient Chinese coins, and two swords."Nghia said the bones were wrapped with a beautifully designed fabric that was ruined when he finally took it out of the cave.Nghia said local people believed that the coffins were originally for wealthy people whose slaves had carried them to the caves ancestral gravesite.After archaeologist and professor Trinh Sinh, working with other archaeologists, visited the cave area in 1998, he identified the area as one used for open-air cremation in the early 8th century.This type of burial was popular in coastal areas in the Red River delta cities of Viet Khe and Hai Phong, and also in China.Sinh said that ... http://www.zenas.gr/site/home/eng_detail.asp?iData=4662 ==> Woman rescued from cave FromWorld Caving News http://www.zenas.gr/WCN => 3 July 2006.Emergency crews rescued a woman stuck inside a cave on the Barton Creek Greenbelt late Sunday night. Firefighters got a call around 10:15 p.m. that someone was stuck in Airman's Cave. It's off the greenbelt near South Lamar and Loop 360. Source: http://www.kvue.com/news/local/stories/070306kvuecaverescue-cb.1f1c5bea.html http://www.zenas.gr/site/home/eng_detail.asp?iData=4667 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ SpeleoUnion http://groups.google.ru/group/SpeleoUnion -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
