Egypt's Ahmed Gabr seeks to break diving world record

Egypt’s Ahmed Gabr will attempt to break the world record for deepest saltwater scuba dive on Thursday, Al Ahram Online reported.

Gabr, a retired military officer, is aiming for a depth of 350 meters, 30 meters more than the current record held by Nuno Gomez, according to Al Ahram Online.

Divers, medics, diving operators and marketers make up the team supporting Gabr’s attempt, which has been called @WorldRecord350.

Gabr is scheduled to descend in a location near the southern coast of Dahab that is almost 650 meters deep, Al Ahram Online reported.

A blog entry on his website explains that the dive is expected to take 14 hours and will see 90 oxygen tanks be consumed by Gabr and fellow divers on his team. Gabr will use a dive-line that has been independently measured for stress, elasticity and tension by an academic at the American University of Cairo to descend towards his target. He will also be using three dive computers and will be collecting a tag at the deepest point that will be verified independently by someone not part of his team.

As for the divers that will be assisting Gabr in his descend, they will have “rehydration bladders” on their tanks an bananas to consume to avoid dehydration.

As for the effects of diving 350 meters below sea level on one’s body, Gabr’s media team said that is yet to be determined.

“No one knows what such a depth will do to a diver’s body, that’s the reason Ahmed is going in the first place, to explore,” Catherine Wilson, a press officer on the @WorldRecord350 team told Ahram Online.

After graduating from Egypt’s Military Academy in 1994, Gabr was part of the Special Forces, the Egyptian Rangers until he earned a scholarship to the United States Army Combat Diver course.

In a tweet, his team said that Gabr was on his way up and no results will be confirmed until “he is back safely.”