Underwater flag-rising ceremony for Indonesian 64th Independence Day!

Those who say nationalism is dead are all wet, as more than 2,500 scuba divers set a world record on Independence Day by taking part in an underwater flag-raising ceremony in North Sulawesi.

Divers lined up underwater to attend Indonesian 64th Independence Day Ceremony which has broken Guinness World Record with as many as 2,486 divers in Malalayang Beach, Manado, on Monday, 17th August. The diving process was started around 10 am and proceeded around 30 minutes into the depths of 10 – 20 m. The world record for diving with the most participants was held by Maldives with 958 divers in year 1997.

Rear Adm. Moekhlas Sidik confirmed on Monday that 2,486 Indonesian divers and 76 foreigners participated in the event at Malalayang Beach in Manado, the provincial capital.

The challenge was part of the Sail Bunaken 2009 maritime event being held as part of Indonesia’s efforts to establish the Sulawesi town of Manado as a world-class tourist spot, Navy spokesman Iskandar Sitompul said

“I’m proud to announce we broke the world record for a mass dive on our Independence Day, which was the first independence commemoration to be held underwater in the world,” he said.

The below image shows thousands of divers rejoicing and heading back to the beach after breaking the world record for the largest mass dive.