Zhou Yuanpeng, a 27-year-old university researcher studying cave-dwelling fish, embarked on a routine scientific expedition that turned into a life-threatening ordeal. On February 5th, Zhou and four teammates from an aquatic cave biodiversity survey team ventured into a karst cave in Na'e village, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. They dove to photograph rare cave fish and shrimp in their natural habitat.

As night fell, Zhou and another researcher, an older man also surnamed Zhou, became trapped in the labyrinthine underwater passages and lost contact with their teammates. Their colleagues alerted authorities, triggering a 69-hour rescue operation involving 13 divers, firefighters, and medical teams.

The cave, located at the source of the Huowang River, initially appears as a large hall but narrows deeper inside. It contains air chambers – spaces where the rock walls curve upward like an upside-down basin, with water below and pockets of trapped air above. With water depths reaching more than 30 meters, rescuers used five 200-meter reels to navigate the murky waters with guide ropes, where visibility was limited to just 3 meters.

After more than four hours of underwater searching, the first survivor, the elder Zhou, was found at 4:30 am on February 6th, trapped in an air chamber 16 meters below the surface and 300 meters from the cave's entrance. He was brought out 90 minutes later.

Over the next three days, divers conducted more than a dozen exhausting dives, battling strong currents and jagged limestone formations. Finally, at 6:50 pm on February 8th, they found the younger Zhou in an air chamber 28 meters deep and 500 meters from the entrance.

Zhou Yuanpeng was so weak after three days without food that he could barely respond. The narrow, complex passageways made pulling him out impossible, so he had to swim out. Weak and exhausted, Zhou Yuanpeng said he hallucinated as his hope faded.

"The team was professional, with cave rescue skills and advanced equipment," said Tang Junwen, a veteran cave diver. "Plus, these caves weren't completely enclosed, allowing trapped divers to find air pockets."

Wei Bai, a member of World Underwater Discovery and a domestic expert in cave diving, helped formulate the rescue plan and described the mission as exceptionally challenging. "Our operation this time finally shifted from recovering bodies to rescuing survivors," he said.