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Italian "cave-man" has a crack at world record
Jun 21, 2008, 11:00 GMT
Cagliari, Sardinia - An Italian speleologist plans to descend 50 metres below the ground in an effort to break the world record for time spent living in a cave which currently stands at 366 consecutive days.
Doctors will wire up the body of the 51-year-old Giancarlo Sulas with electrodes allowing them to constantly monitor his health during what was described Saturday as a scientific experiment.
Researchers at the Polytechnic University of Cagliari-Monserrato on the island of Sardinia hope to learn more on how humans adapt to living in cramped, dark and damp conditions over long periods of time, the ANSA news agency said.
The Campanaccio cave on Sardinia, where Sulas intends to spend the coming months, has also been fitted with video cameras to relay images of his progress.
Another Italian Maurizio Montalbini holds the current world record which he set spending just over a year underground in the early 1990s.
Montalbini's recent attempt to beat his own record failed when in June 2007 he re-emerged after 235 days from a cave in Italy's central Marche region.
Montalbini nourished himself with food pills but also a small supply of honey, nuts and chocolate while drinking water from a pipe connected above ground. He was found to have lost 21 kilogrammes but was otherwise pronounced in good health.
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