Briton sets new scuba dive record: Report<\/p>\n
Associated Press, Bangkok<\/p>\n
A British dive instructor plunged to a depth of 313 meters
\n(1,026.9 feet) off the Thai coast to set a new world record for
\nthe deepest scuba dive, a news report said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Mark Ellyatt took 12 minutes to make his descent off the
\nresort island of Phuket in southern Thailand on Thursday, besting
\nthe previous mark by 5 meters (16.4 feet), according to the
\nPhuket Gazette newspaper. He then needed six hours and 40 minutes
\nto safely return to the surface.<\/p>\n
Failure to ascend slowly from deep dives can result in
\ndecompression sickness or death.<\/p>\n
\"It's a lonely trip, like a trip to the moon,\" Ellyatt said.<\/p>\n
An independent verification of the record was not immediately
\navailable.<\/p>\n
The previous world mark of 308 meters (1,010.5 feet) was set
\non Nov. 6, 2001 by British diver John Bennett off the island of
\nMindoro in the Philippines, according to Guinness World Records.<\/p>\n
The depth of 305 meters (1,000 feet) had long been regarded as
\na major barrier.<\/p>\n
Ellyatt dived with six tanks and had another 24 brought down
\nto him by support divers who met him at various stages of his
\nascent.<\/p>\n
Ellyatt, a technical instructor at a Phuket dive company,
\nrequired emergency decompression treatment after a deep dive in
\nFebruary and a further three months to fully recover from the
\neffects.<\/p>\n
The Briton said he'd prepared for the dive for about 10 years.
\nHe said his motive was not to set a world mark but to improve
\nsafety standards.<\/p>\n
\"I wanted to find a method for safely ascending because there
\ndoesn't seem to be one. Lots of companies sell computer software
\nthat plots a solution for returning to the surface but none of it
\nseems to work,\" he said.<\/p>",
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