May 20, 2019 - 15:02 AMT
World's biggest cave is even bigger than previously thought

Thanks to discoveries made during a recent expedition in Vietnam, it appears the world's largest cave, Son Doong, is even bigger than previously thought, CNN reports.

Last month, a trio of British divers -- the same divers who aided in the rescue of the trapped soccer team in Thailand in 2018 -- ventured to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, in the jungle-filled Quang Binh Province of central Vietnam, to explore the cave's waterways.

During the groundbreaking dive, they discovered a new underwater tunnel that connects Son Doong (meaning "Mountain River Cave") with another enormous cave called Hang Thung.

Son Doong currently measures a total of 38.5 million cubic meters (about 1.35 billion cubic feet). When it's officially connected with Thung Cave, it will add an additional 1.6 million cubic meters in volume.

"It would be like someone found a lump on top of Mount Everest, making it another 1,000 meters higher," says Howard Limbert, technical advisor of the Quang Binh-based Oxalis adventure tour company and one of the cave experts who helped organize the dive.

He tells CNN Travel, "Any cave in the world will be able to fit comfortably inside Song Dong when it's connected -- it's just outrageous in size."