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DeliciousMacedonia (global-adventures.us): The Vrelo Cave in Macedonia may be the deepest cave in Europe, and perhaps in the world. The cave is located in the Canyon of Matka on the right bank of Treska River near the Macedonian capital of Skopje. Vrelo is actually a system of two caves, one above and one submerged.
Italian cave diver Luigi Casati, who is part of an international team of explorers, tries at this moment to prove that the cave is at least 500 meters (1,650 feet) deep. During the first dive, Casati reached a depth of 140 meters (462 feet). He discovered several tunnels that branch off in different directions at a depth of 125 meters (412 feet).
Several dives later, Casati reached 205 meters (676 feet), setting a new world record for cold water rebreather cave diving. The total penetration so far has been around 280 meters (924 feet), according to the dive-team.
Casati is using Aquatek Voyager rebreathers and a bail-out open circuit decompression line with different gas mixes.
At this point, the dives did prove that the Vrelo cave system is the deepest spring in the Balkans. The team, which includes Alan Kovacevic, Alen Milosevic, Alessandro Fantini, JJ Bolanz, Lorenzo Del Veneziano, Luigi Casati, and Tihomir Kovacevic, will continue to explore the cave for ten days during August 2009 and hope to penetrate much further.
The Vrelo cave system is a candidate for the new Seven World Wonders.
