OREANDA-NEWS.  Five KAMAZ trucks carried the underwater research team of the Russian Geographical Society and the Russian Underwater Federation to two lakes located at the pole of cold of the Northern Hemisphere and safely returned them home.
Anzhelika Akueva, the press attachй of the expedition, has given a live commentary on the event:

During a few days, from 6 to 9 March, the underwater explorers dived under the ice crust of Lakes Labynkyr and Vorota which are among the coldest water bodies in the world. The lakes are in remote areas of Yakutia, away from roads and settlements. The divers worked together with scientists from the Institute for Biological Problems of Cryolithozone of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The group’s task was to study the hydraulic system of the lakes, collect samples of soil and water in the coldest time of the year, and also to study the behavior of organisms and special equipment under extreme conditions.

Lake Vorota is located 30 km from Labynkyr. The scientists suppose that there is a connection between them, something like underground channels. To get an understanding of the unique hydraulic system of these places, it was required to take samples from Vorota too. The scientists have never before had such an opportunity, and they asked us if we could try to get to the second lake. This unplanned breakthrough was the most difficult: the road of 30 kilometers took 20 hours. The KAMAZ trucks made their way through the snow at a speed of about 600 meters per hour. KAMAZ became the first wheeled vehicle that could reach these places. For the first time in the global diving history, the divers went down to the bottom of the hard-to-reach lake. The maximum depth of diving is 59 meters 60 centimeters.
After the dive into Lake Vorota, Bozena Ostojic, an observer for the World Underwater Federation (CMAS) and a logistics expert from Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s team, made a special statement to confirm the Russian divers’ achievement and congratulate Russia and the whole world with the new record.