Spanish woman emerges after spending 500 days living alone in cave

Beatriz Flamini says she endured swarms of flies, read 60 books and never missed the sunlight

After spending 500 days alone in a dark cave 70 metres below the Earth's surface, assailed by a plague of flies and the odd, tantalising vision of roast chicken, most people would be craving a wash and some company.

But after emerging from her subterranean lair in southern Spain a little after 9am on Friday and having a quick checkup with a doctor and a psychologist, Beatriz Flamini was treated instead to a 50-minute press conference in which she endeavoured to explain the almost inexplicable.