By : Sara Ghali
CAIRO: Egyptian diver Walaa Hafez completed his 13-hour dive in the New Suez Canal Wednesday, waiting for Guinness to recognize it as a new world record, Youm7 reported.
The dive started Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. and ended at 10:00 p.m., with the help of an 18-member team.
“Hafez dived 50 kilometers along the canal at the depth of 25 meters of the New Suez Canal, to prove to the doubters the real depth of the new canal, despite the lack of visibility of the underneath water,” Hafez’s business manager Mohamed el-Alfy told The Cairo Post Thursday.
He added that the Suez Canal Authority’s representatives asked Hafez not to go further after he dived extra 15 more kilometers in addition to the 35-km dry-drilled new canal as it was a high risk for him to proceed in a zero-percent visibility, for he intended to dive 100 kilometers in less than 24 hours to break a new world record.
When asked about whether the dive broke a new world record, Alfy told the Cairo Post “Guinness refused to send representatives to record the dive as they consider the site, being within Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula, among the high-risk sites.
Guinness asked for the following so as to consider the dive: two accredited witnesses and a full data report per every 4-hour shift, a video showing the dive and a GPS route recording, according to Alfi.
“After Guinness was informed with the lack of visibility that Hafez faced in the water, they told us that they can consider it as a world record for diving in the hardest circumstances,” He added.
We are to send the documented reports and video recorded to Guinness and will wait for their reply in a timeframe of 45-60 days, according to Hafez’s business manager.
Hafez intended to break a new Guinness record for the Longest Open Saltwater Scuba Dive as a gift for Egypt in the inauguration of the New Suez Canal.