Asia Dive News : Maldives breaks most scuba divers record

Maldives has made a new world record for “Most people scuba diving simultaneously” on a single site. On 25 February 2006 at Sunlight Thila in North Male' Atoll located 9.6 km from Male' International Airport, 979 divers dived to  break the existing record of 722. This dive took place between 11:00hrs and 11:30hrs.

Divers aged between 10-73, consisting of tourists, Maldivians and expatriates from 37 resorts, 9 dive centres including the Coast Guard and 14 safari vessels participated in this record dive.

Prior to the event The President of the Maldives, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom phoned the organising committee to express his support for the event and later visited the site to watch the record dive. The Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation, Dr. Mahamood Shouqee , Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, Minister of Transport and Communication Mr. Mohamed Saeed were also present to witness thedive. In addition Minister of Construction and Public Infrastructure Mr. Mauroof Jameel took part in this record dive. Among honorary guests were also local diving prioneers, Mr. Sarudhaaru Dhon Maniku and Mr. Ibrahim Moosa.

Post-event celebrations were held at Kuda Bandos where all the participants enjoyed a beach barbeque lunch while they were entertained by Maldivian cultural dances and bodu beru. During this event, the Minister of Tourism and Civil Aviation, Dr. Mahamood Shouqee congratulated the divers and thanked the organising committee, sponsors and the divers for their role in making this event a success. Certificates were awarded to the divers and the day ended with a photo session with all the participants.

The event was supported by Bandos Island Resort, IGMH, Coast Guard, Villa Hotels, Alia Investments and the German Red Cross. MTPB also wishes to thank all those involved in making this event a success; particularly Ms. Shaheena Ali and team from Sea Explores, Mr. Hussain Rasheed (Sendi) from Villa Diving, Ms. Kraus Claudia from Euro Divers, Mr. Yusuf Moosa from Dive Center Lagoona and Mr. Hassan Manik (Lakudibo) from Multi-Marine Services.

This event was organised by Maldives Tourism Promotion Board and sponsored by Dhiraagu.

Source: Travel daily news