The Maldives has set a new free-diving world record on Saturday (1 October) with the most number of people holding their breath underwater at the same time.
Organised by Freedive Maldives, more than 455 people took part in the event across the Maldives to celebrate the golden jubilee of the country’s tourism industry. The record-breaking event dubbed ‘Neyvaa 2′ was held at 12 resorts simultaneously. Judges from the Guinness Book of World Records observed the attempt for the most people performing static apnea simultaneously.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and First Lady Fazna Ahmed also participated in the event at Crossroads Maldives along with Herbert Nitsch, the free-diving world record champion and “the deepest man on earth.” A total of 140 people took part at the event at Crossroads.
The participants held their breath underwater for two minutes. A total of 459 people took part in ‘Neyvaa 2’. However, four of the participants were not included in the record since they came up for air before the set time.
The first World Record was set at the first Neyvaa event held to mark World Tourism Day in 2019, where 521 free-divers dove together, joined by the president, cabinet ministers, parliament members and world champion free-divers William Trubridge and Jonathan Chong.
