PHUKET, Thailand (21 Dec 2003) -- A British dive instructor living and working in Thailand has set a new world record of 313 meters (1027 feet) for the deepest dive with scuba diving equipment. Mark Ellyatt descended to the world record depth in just 12 minutes but his ascent took nearly seven hours to safely decompress before surfacing. Ellyatt set the record off the renowned tourist island of Phuket with a team of support divers stationed at various depths with additional tanks. He started with six cylinders and used another 24 before surfacing. The new record betters the old mark of 308 meters (1010.5 feet) set by John Bennett off Puerto Galera in the Philippines on November 6, 2001. Deep diving is dangerous because divers breathe air and mixed gasses under pressure. After a deep dive February 2003, Ellyatt was hospitalized and received emergency treatment in a hyperbaric chamber for 'the bends'. He did not fully recover for three months. While many consider both free diving and scuba diving records to be little more than dare-devil stunts designed to attract media attention and equipment manufacturer endorsement deals, Ellyatt says his objective is not to set records. | | Instead he wants to help develop better safety standards in a sport that involves certain health risks including lung embolisms, decompression sickness and drowning. For technical divers like Ellyatt who often dive deeper than typical recreational divers, the risks are much greater. ''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. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
