World’s longest salt cave discovered in Israel

Israeli cave explorers said Thursday that a salt cave with striking stalactites near the Dead Sea is the world's longest, beating the record-holder in Iran.

The cave named Malham, stretching over 10 kilometres (6.25 miles) runs through Mount Sodom, Israel's largest mountain, and spills out to the southwest corner of the adjacent Dead Sea.

The desert site was near where, according to the Bible, Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt.

Rain is expected to lengthen Malham further over time, the researchers said.

This happens when rainwater flows down cracks in the surface, dissolving salt and creating semi-horizontal channels along the way that flow down towards the Dead Sea.

Malham became known to researchers through the work of Amos Frumkin, founder, and director of Hebrew University's Cave Research Centre, who in the 1980s mapped around five kilometres of it.

But in 2006, researchers mapped over six kilometres of the N3 cave in southern Iran's Qeshm island, granting it the widely recognized status of the world's longest salt cave.

Two years ago, Israeli spelunker, Yoav Negev decided to complete Frumkin's work, reaching out to Bulgarian cave explorers for reinforcements with the promise of a warm winter adventure.

The Negev, a founder of the Israel Cave Explorers Club, joined forces with Boaz Landford, a researcher at the university's research centre, to organize a delegation of eight European spelunkers and another 20 locals.

They spent some 10 days mapping the cave in 2018.

A second 10-day expedition in 2019 with 80 local and international spelunkers completed the measuring and mapping of the cave with lasers, determining its length at over 10 kilometres.

During one dinner break in the cave, Boaz Langford from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem said the explorers felt their pasta lacked seasoning.

"So we just broke some salt off one of the rocks and used that," he said.