Shillong, March 22: India's longest sandstone cave has been partially explored in the Mawsynram-Mawlongbna belt of Meghalaya by a team of cavers.

Krem Puri, which has been partially explored and surveyed for 8,269 metres, has been named as the country's longest sandstone cave delegating Krem Mawtynhiang (3.14 km) to second spot.

A team of cavers led by the Meghalaya Adventures' Association explored the cave. The caving, as part of the Abode of the Clouds Expedition, 2016, was held from February 1 to 25.

The expedition returned to Jaintia Hills for the first week to continue the ongoing exploration of Krem Chympe from its upper entrance in Sielkan village under East Jaintia Hills. Cavers also travelled to Mawsynram-Mawlongbna area in East Khasi Hills.

The expedition had 27 cavers from Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, Ireland, the United Kingdom and members of the association.

Two scientists from India accompanied the cavers and conducted bio-speleological study of the areas.

Association general secretary Brian Kharpran Daly said the 26-day exploration explored and mapped 18.9 km of the cave's passages.

Daly said the exploration team at Sielkan/Sakwa in East Jaintia Hills managed to additionally explore the length of Krem Chympe, which is India's sixth longest cave, from 12,589 metres to 13,332 metres in length.

He said Krem Puri is a complex system of mazes along the face of a cliff. "The complexity of the cave is uncharacteristic of majority of the Meghalayan caves. The cave is open for future exploration and it is already be considered one of the top sandstone caves in the world," he added.

On Krem Lumshken, located close to the expedition camp, he said the cave proved to be the second longest cave to be explored this year. It yielded 3,424 metres of passage, much of which consisted of crawls with a lot of mud to contend with, he said.

Other caves explored in the area include Krem Pamskei, extended from 458 to 1,189 metres, Krem Mawpun, extended from 2,267 to 2,546 metres, Krem Phlang Mawsyrpat (616 metres), Krem Weikynmei (402 metres), Krem Maduri (377 metres) and Krem Tyllong Siej (344 metres).

Daly said till March 2016, the whereabouts of over 1,610 caves and cave locations are known in Meghalaya of which, 1,000 have been explored or partially explored to yield in excess of 446 km of surveyed cave passage, with much more waiting to be discovered.

"Much of the caves that have been explored and mapped in Meghalaya over the last 24 years consists of impressive river caves mixed with massive and often richly decorated relic passages along with magnificently washed shafts that create cave systems equal in size and beauty to those found elsewhere in the world, maintaining Meghalaya's status on the world caving map as a magnificent caving region," Daly said.