This information was given out at a news conference organised here Thursday by the Tourism Promotion Centre, Dhangadhi.

As per a preliminary exploration carried out by a team led by French cave explorer Maurice Duchene who is also the President of the International Centre for the Exploration of the Himalayas, the Patal Bhuvaneshwar Gufa is 160 metres deep. The cave has been found to be this deep as per the study of the cave system up to 800 metres distance.

It was stated at the news conference that the team returned after completing its exploration up to 800 metres distance only without further study as the cave was very narrow beyond this point and there was no arrangement for rescuers.

Before this, the 65-metre-deep Siddha Gufa at Bandipur, Tanahun was considered to be the largest and deepest cave of Nepal.

The exploration team is planning to prepare the topographical map of the cave after further exploration. Duchene has already explored 1,300 caves across the world.

The Tourism Promotion Centre is planning to organize a promo fair on April 12 for publicizing the cave in a bid to promoting tourism in the region.