The deepest scuba dive was attained in less than 15 minutes, but it took almost 15 hours before the Egyptian who had made the attempt to return to the surface of the sea.
Ahmed Gamal Gabr is the man who still holds the Guinness World Record for this fete, set in September 2014.
The record, a dive of 332.35 meters (1091 ft) in 12 minutes, was only achieved after four years of intense training, during which time South Africa’s Nuno Gomes dive to a depth of 318.25 meters was the target to overcome.
The record-breaking attempt would have been made earlier, in 2012, but Egypt at the time was still roiling in the Arab Spring. The uncertainties of the time rendered the attempt highly unlikely, as the dive was a team effort involving individuals of various nationalities.
The years of preparation were required despite the fact that Ahmed Gabr,then at 41 years, had been diving since he was 18, had served as a frogman in Egypt’s special forces, and was one of a handful, if not the only, US Army certified combat diver in the nation, and the region at large.
To help him set the record, a team of more than 20 people were on hand on the day of the record attempt at Dahab, a small town by the Red Sea in the Sinai, where Nuno Gomes also set his record. The site is favored by divers because the sea drops off steeply just offshore.
The attempt was made on the 18th of September, at around 10:30. The set target was 350 meters.
He was laden with nine tanks and was to be guided by a dive line which had tags to confirm the depth from the surface. There were support divers along the line up to a depth of 110 meters.
Within 12 minutes, he had reached the tag set at 335 meters, just 15 meters short of the set goal. However, he felt tremors rippling through his arms and hands, and decided to return to the surface after picking up this tag.
Decompression sickness
Diving imposes a huge toll on the body, as the column of water above the diver, and the column of air above the sea, exert their combined pressure on the diver.
The return to the surface was thus very slow indeed, to prevent decompression sickness, or the formation of gas bubbles within the diver’s body as a rapid change in pressure, caused by a rapid ascent to the surface, causes gases dissolved in the body to rapidly come out of solution.
He rose relatively quickly to the first support diver at 110m, who secured the tag Ahmed had taken from 335m and then helped him ascend slowly to the next support divers. It took 4 hours (it was between 14:00 and 15:00) from the beginning of the dive for Ahmed Gabr to reach the decompression ladders, a series of steps three meters long, and likewise apart, running from 3 meters to 30 meters below the surface.
At these ladders, Ahmed was being nourished by pouches containing liquids and mashed fruits and vegetables. His scuba tanks were also being swapped.
Ahmed Gabr surfaced at 00:15, having used more than 70 scuba tanks to make the dive.
While he did hand over the tag for 335m, the adjudicators for Guinness World Record concluded that the dive line was slightly inclined, hence the certified depth of 332.35m.
By Matengo Chwanya
Africa Global News Publication
