Three Days Trapped in Na’e Cave — Zhou Yuanpeng’s Fight for Life

For 27-year-old Zhou Yuanpeng, a young researcher studying cave-dwelling fish, the dive was supposed to be routine. He and his team had done this many times before — measuring, photographing, collecting data. But on that cold February morning, what started as science turned into a fight for survival deep under the mountains of Guangxi, China.

On February 5, 2025 Zhou and four teammates entered a dark karst cave in Na’e village, Baise. They dove to capture images of rare cave fish and shrimp living in total darkness. The cave water was cold, still, and silent — until everything went wrong.

As night fell, Zhou and another researcher, an older man also named Zhou, took a wrong turn in the underwater maze. Their lights bounced off the jagged walls, revealing endless tunnels twisting in every direction. Then, the rope line disappeared — and with it, their only path back to safety.

The rest of the team surfaced and waited, calling out into the cave mouth. There was no answer. Panic set in, and soon local authorities were alerted — beginning a 69-hour race against time involving 13 divers, firefighters, and medics.

The cave, hidden at the source of the Huowang River, looked simple from the outside — a wide stone hall echoing with dripping water. But inside, it narrowed into an underwater labyrinth, full of hidden air chambers and twisting tunnels. “It’s a geological maze,” said Liang Liang, the deputy police chief. “We had no map. We were going in blind.”

Water filled every crevice, some spots plunging as deep as 18 meters. Visibility was barely three meters. Rescuers tied 200-meter guide ropes and carried their own light into the blackness, where even sound seemed to drown.

Then, faint tapping echoed through the water. The rescuers froze, listening. Someone was alive down there.

At 4:30 a.m. on February 6, divers found the first trapped man — the older Zhou. He was clinging to an air pocket 16 meters below the surface, just 300 meters from the entrance. Ninety minutes later, he was safely brought out, shivering and exhausted.

But the younger Zhou, Yuanpeng, was still missing.

The rescuers dove again and again, their tanks running low, their muscles aching from hours in the cold. “We were exhausted,” said diver Wu Xinghao. “But no one was ready to quit.”

For three long days, they fought strong currents and razor-sharp limestone. Every dive could be their last. Still, they kept searching.

Finally, on the evening of February 8, at 6:50 p.m., a faint beam of light caught something — movement in an air pocket 28 meters deep and 500 meters from the entrance. It was Zhou Yuanpeng. Barely conscious, he lifted his head when they called his name.

He had been trapped for nearly three days, with no food and almost no air. Wu stayed by his side, talking to him, keeping him awake while another diver fetched oxygen tanks and glucose. “He was fading fast,” Wu said. “We couldn’t let him slip away.”

By 8:30 p.m., Zhou had regained enough strength to swim. The narrow tunnels made it impossible to carry him, so he had to push forward on his own, guided by the rescuers’ lights. Every meter was a struggle between life and death.

When they finally surfaced, Zhou collapsed in their arms. He was rushed to the hospital, barely able to speak. Later, he said he had started hallucinating — faces, voices, even flashes of sunlight — as he waited to die.

“I thought those were my final moments,” he whispered.

His father wept when they reunited. “They gave my son a second life,” he said, his voice breaking.

It was the first successful cave-diving rescue in China’s history. Experts called it a turning point — proof that survival, even in the darkest depths, was possible.

“Our mission used to be about recovering bodies,” said Wei Bai, one of the rescue planners. “This time, we brought someone home alive.”

And deep inside that silent cave, the faint tapping Zhou made in the darkness still echoes