Ahmed Gamal Gabr succeeded at setting a new Guinness World Record for deepest scuba dive with his depth of 1,090 feet in Dahab, Egypt. Gabr’s dive was confirmed by judge Talal Omar today, who said the attempt began on Thursday morning and ended shortly after midnight on Friday.

The previous record was set by Nuno Gomez from South Africa in June 2005 with a depth of 1,044 feet.

According to The Associated Press, Gabr is a member of Egypt’s special forces and has been diving since he was 18. The now 38-year-old was given a scholarship to the United States Army Combat Diver course, which is where he gained much of his training. He began training for the scuba diver world record in 2010.

Dangers that can occur from diving that long to distances that deep include equipment malfunction and sickness from decompression, but luckily the diver was extremely prepared.

“I traveled with nine tanks and decompressed for 14 hours [on the way back up],” he told NBC News. He even made some friends along the way. “A baby [white tip oceanic] shark hung out with me for six hours.”

Image by richcarey/iStock