A daredevil diver has smashed a world record after plunging 1,109ft into an underwater cave and spending almost nine hours beneath the surface.
Bartłomiej “Bart” Pitala descended 338 metres into the pitch-black Vrelo cave in North Macedonia before facing more than eight gruelling hours of decompression.
The Polish explorer reached the record depth after racing through the cave’s main shaft to 212 metres in less than five minutes.
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He then travelled along a 100-metre horizontal section before entering an almost vertical passage and venturing alone into an area no human has explored before.
Bart had just 45 seconds to investigate the new section before beginning his return, as reported by What’s The Jam.
After passing 300 metres, he entered a vast chamber and was forced to choose between several dark openings in a matter of seconds.
He continued down a steep passage using two dive-propulsion vehicles before finally turning at 338 metres because he feared pushing his equipment any further.
Shockingly, the tunnel was still descending into darkness.
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Bart said: “At 338 metres, I decided not to push the limits of the equipment any further.
“The passage was still going down steeply. The way forward was unmistakable.
“I was the deepest man on Earth,” he said.
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The extraordinary dive took place on 16 October during the Matka Vrelo 300 Expedition.
It beat the previous cave-diving record by 26 metres.
French diver Xavier Méniscus had reached 312 metres inside Font Estramar in early 2024.
Bart’s descent also went six metres beyond the 332.35-metre Guinness World Record set by Ahmed Gabr during an open-water scuba dive in Egypt’s Red Sea in 2014, although the achievements fall into different diving categories.
It extended Vrelo’s own explored depth by 51 metres after Bart reached 287 metres there in 2025.
The 338-metre feat has now made Vrelo the deepest underwater cave explored by a human diver.
“We think it’s a really big achievement in what was considered ‘doable’ by humans,” Bart told Jam Press.
“So we’d like a broader audience to learn about this sporting, scientific and adventurous achievement.”
The operation required months of planning and four preparatory dives reaching depths of 150, 190, 240 and 290 metres.
More than 25 emergency breathing cylinders were positioned in the cave, while seven support divers waited at predetermined depths during Bart’s ascent.
A third rebreather was delivered to him at 140 metres in case either of his two existing systems failed.
Above water, a helicopter, ambulance, paramedics and a hyperbaric specialist were standing by, alongside three speedboats and members of North Macedonia’s TIGAR special police unit.
An air-filled underwater habitat was also installed in case Bart’s dry suit flooded during decompression.
He did not use it, instead completing the entire decompression in the water.
Despite the extreme pressure and punishing return, Bart said he suffered no decompression problems and climbed out unaided.
The expedition also uncovered two previously unknown passages and added more than 150 metres to the cave’s mapped network.
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