Briton sets new scuba dive record: Report

Briton sets new scuba dive record: Report

Associated Press, Bangkok

A British dive instructor plunged to a depth of 313 meters
(1,026.9 feet) off the Thai coast to set a new world record for
the deepest scuba dive, a news report said on Sunday.

Mark Ellyatt took 12 minutes to make his descent off the
resort island of Phuket in southern Thailand on Thursday, besting
the previous mark by 5 meters (16.4 feet), according to the
Phuket Gazette newspaper. He then needed six hours and 40 minutes
to safely return to the surface.

Failure to ascend slowly from deep dives can result in
decompression sickness or death.

"It's a lonely trip, like a trip to the moon," Ellyatt said.

An independent verification of the record was not immediately
available.

The previous world mark of 308 meters (1,010.5 feet) was set
on Nov. 6, 2001 by British diver John Bennett off the island of
Mindoro in the Philippines, according to Guinness World Records.

The depth of 305 meters (1,000 feet) had long been regarded as
a major barrier.

Ellyatt dived with six tanks and had another 24 brought down
to him by support divers who met him at various stages of his
ascent.

Ellyatt, a technical instructor at a Phuket dive company,
required emergency decompression treatment after a deep dive in
February and a further three months to fully recover from the
effects.

The Briton said he'd prepared for the dive for about 10 years.
He said his motive was not to set a world mark but to improve
safety standards.

"I wanted to find a method for safely ascending because there
doesn't seem to be one. Lots of companies sell computer software
that plots a solution for returning to the surface but none of it
seems to work," he said.