The story of Walaa Hafez, the quadriplegic Egyptian who broke a new diving world record

Walaa Hafez, who currently has 46 years old, He spent most of his life as a soldier in his country’s navy. Egypt.

In that role, he became known for his ability to divingan activity in which he managed to establish a milestone worldwide.

Recently, due to a accidentlost the ability to move his limbs. But, far from resigning, he returned to the water to, once again, achieve a international record.

The story of Walaa Hafez, the «Egyptian whale»

The Egyptian Walaa Hafez was born on August 26, 1979 in Alexandria. He has the title of Captain and worked most of his life in his country’s Navy, where he was part of a special naval forces unit.

There, he began as a maritime pilot with the Suez Canal Authority, a role he held immediately after completing his military service.

Hafez (center) was an officer in the Egyptian navy. Photo: IG captain_walaa_hafez

Later, he rose to the position of submarine operations and rescue officer, specializing in dive tactical and long lasting.

So good was he at it that in 2015, inspired by Egyptian officer Ahmed Gabr – who a year earlier had reached a depth of 332 meters and was in the water for around 13 hours – Walaa established the record Guinness immersion longest in open salt water (male), with a time of 51 hours and 24 minutes.

To achieve this feat, Hafez used a dry suit with an electric heating systemwith the aim of keeping their body temperature stable, since the water temperature was around 22 °C.

Furthermore, it was fed with liquids and energy supplementsto maintain your energy levels and chemical stability in your blood.

Hafez, after last record, with his followers. Photo: Guinness World Records- FTP Clarín

During this event, also, the Egyptian performed another unprecedented feat, by putting, 10 meters under the sea, an Egyptian flag 144 square meterswhich became the largest Egyptian insignia placed underwater.

Since then, Walaa became known as the «egyptian whale» or «the record breaker of Alexandria.» However, a terrible tragedy awaited him.

Overcoming adversity: a fatal accident and a recent record Guinness

In 2016, a year after obtaining his first record Guinness, Walaa Hafez suffered a serious accident while driving on the route that connects the city of Ismailia with Suez, Egypt.

After that, the «Egyptian whale», who used his hands and feet so much in diving, was left quadriplegicthat is, he lost the ability to move his four limbs.

Despite this unexpected situation, far from becoming depressed, Hafez continued forward. Of course, he had to leave the position in the Navy, but he began to work as secretary of People with Disabilities of the Defensores de la Patria political party.

But I still dreamed of one day dive againthat activity that he liked so much and for which he was known worldwide.

He had his first approach to the water September 21, 2020when, with 501 life jackets and for the International Day of Peace, he formed the term in a coastal area of ​​Ismailia «paz»which earned him a new Guinness for being the biggest word written with vests of this type.

Hafez wrote the word peace with life preserver. Photo: Guinness World Records

Finally, this year and despite recommendations to the contrary from his doctors, Walaa decided to return to the water. «If my body can’t move, water will help me; water is my friend,» he repeated at the time.

Therefore, they prepared adapted equipment for him and, with the help of other people and the support of many followers, on August 11, he threw himself at a depth of five meters in a Suez Canal Authority pool in Ismailia.

But not only that, but it was underwater since the 11 a.m. until 5:04 p.m. in the afternoon, so it reached another record Guinnessbeing the disabled man who made the longest dive in a controlled environment.

During the 6 hours and 4 minutes who remained underwater, Hafez hydrated himself by taking sips of juice, as seen in the video recorded by Guinness.

After getting out of the water, Walaa was seated in his chair, from where he celebrated with the people present, who described the feat as “the biggest challenge” and wore T-shirts printed with an illustration of Hafez and the motto “first quadriplegic jumper”.

The record holder GuinnessRaafat Tawfik, was there to present Walaa with his certificate. In doing so, he maintained that he was surprised by the “resilience and persistence” of Hafez and for the “passion, dedication and collaboration” of the team that helped him.

“Walaa is a model to follow in terms of willpower, something we should all learn from,» he said to close the ceremony.

With this new record, then, Walaa Hafez accumulates three Guinnesses under his belt. Will he go for more?