Sami Karkabi, co-founder of the Speleo Club du Liban (SCL), passed away last Friday on the 24th of March at the age of 86 years. His name is mostly associated with the Jeita cave.
Born in Haifa, Palestine, in 1931, Sami Karkabi obtained in 1952 a MPC general mathematics from the Graduate School of Mathematics of Beirut. That same year, he taught hotel accounting at the Ecole Hôtelière before working in the Lebanese Petroleum Company from 1952 to 1953.
He started caving in 1949, and since 1951(founding of SCL) he led many expeditions first, inside the Jeita cave where he pushed the explorations from 2500m till 6400m (Terminal Siphon) from the entrance. Numerous obstacles had to be overcome, especially the famous “Falaise Karkabi”, named after him.