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Australian Explorers Set New Record for Deepest Cave

The cave site of Panga ya Saidi, in Kenya's Kilifi County is seen in this undated photograph. Mohammad Javad Shoaee/Handout via REUTERS
The cave site of Panga ya Saidi, in Kenya's Kilifi County is seen in this undated photograph. Mohammad Javad Shoaee/Handout via REUTERS
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Australian Explorers Set New Record for Deepest Cave

The cave site of Panga ya Saidi, in Kenya's Kilifi County is seen in this undated photograph. Mohammad Javad Shoaee/Handout via REUTERS
The cave site of Panga ya Saidi, in Kenya's Kilifi County is seen in this undated photograph. Mohammad Javad Shoaee/Handout via REUTERS

A team of Australian cave explorers descended in a 400-meter-deep cave chain in Tasmania region, bringing a new record to their country, according to the German News Agency.

“The team successfully connected a newly discovered cave, named ‘Delta Variant,’ to the Niggly/Growling Swallet Cave system, taking the record for Australia’s deepest known cave to an anticipated 401 vertical meters. The team entered Delta Variant right before noon, on Saturday.

After first negotiating a difficult horizontal section, they descended down the ropes that had been fixed over the last six months.

When they reached the end of the last rope they tied, they descended another 35m, and reached the bottom of Delta Variant, breaking through into the Niggly System.

The team then exited via the Niggly System to achieve the first system traverse using this entrance,” Southern Tasmanian Caverneers said in a statement.

The team faced very challenging conditions with high water levels and spent over 14 hours underground.

“Making the connection between Delta Variant and Niggly is a momentous achievement for the caving community, but also adds to our scientific understanding of the extensiveness of Australia’s karst systems,” said team member Ciara Smart.

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Marseille Airport Suspends Flights Due to Wildfire as Public Warned to Stay at Home

Smoke rises over Marseille as a fast-moving wildfire spreads on the outskirts the city, southern France, July 8, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises over Marseille as a fast-moving wildfire spreads on the outskirts the city, southern France, July 8, 2025. (Reuters)
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Marseille Airport Suspends Flights Due to Wildfire as Public Warned to Stay at Home

Smoke rises over Marseille as a fast-moving wildfire spreads on the outskirts the city, southern France, July 8, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises over Marseille as a fast-moving wildfire spreads on the outskirts the city, southern France, July 8, 2025. (Reuters)

A wildfire spurred by hot summer winds reached France's second-largest city Tuesday, grounding all flights to and from Marseille, injuring at least nine people and forcing many residents to evacuate or barricade themselves indoors as smoke choked the Mediterranean air.

A big city hospital switched to generator power, train traffic was halted in most of the surrounding area, and some roads were closed and others tangled with logjams.

More than 1,000 firefighters were deployed to tackle the fire, which broke out near the town of Les Pennes-Mirabeau before racing toward Marseille. Some 720 hectares (acres) were hit by the blaze, the prefecture said.

Nine firefighters were injured, according to the prefecture, or local administration. No dead have been reported.

The prefecture said in a statement Tuesday evening that “the situation is under control,″ though the fire has not yet been extinguished. It described the fire as “particularly virulent.″

It came on a cloudless, windy day after a lengthy heat wave around Europe left the area parched and at heightened risk for wildfires. Several have broken out in southern France in recent days.

Light gray smoke gave the sky over Marseille’s old port a dusty aspect as water-dropping planes tried to extinguish the fire in the outskirts of the city, which has some 900,000 inhabitants.

Hundreds of homes were evacuated. The prefecture urged people in the affected areas to stay indoors and off the roads. With the fire approaching Marseille, the prefecture also advised residents in the north of the city to keep windows closed to prevent toxic smoke from entering their homes.

One distressed family watched the smoke over their neighborhood in the hills above the port city and showed AP how the roof of their neighbor's house had been damaged in the fire as they worried about their own.

Marseille airport announced that the runway had been closed at around midday. The prefecture said train traffic was halted, notably after a fire neared the tracks in L'Estaque, a picturesque neighborhood of Marseille.

As a safety measure, the city's Hospital Nord switched to generators “due to micro power cuts.”

“The aim is to secure the imaging sector. We are not worried as we have a high level of autonomy,” the University Hospitals of Marseille said, adding that because of the disrupted traffic it asked workers to remain at their posts until the next teams starts its shift.