ISRAEL: Group of international and Palestinian divers celebrate Christmas underwater in the Red Sea

Record ID: 396048

  • Title: ISRAEL: Group of international and Palestinian divers celebrate Christmas underwater in the Red Sea
  • Date: 25th December 2007
  • Summary: SANTA DIVER COMING OUT OF WATER DIVERS COMING OUT OF WATER
  • Embargoed: 9th January 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA1APS7MKS8YBLUS9YW0XYAK8DC
  • Story Text: Palestinian and international divers celebrate Christmas under water off of Eilat, Israel on the bed of the Red Sea.
    Palestinian and international divers celebrated Christmas and the New Year's holiday underwater on Monday (December 24) on the sea bed of the Red Sea.
    Divers were singing Christmas carols while preparing the Christmas tree and diving equipment.
    Two of the divers were wearing Santa suits and the others wore Santa hats.
    Santa and the divers dove with the Christmas tree to a depth of 5 metres, then positioned the tree and celebrated Christmas with the fish.

    "Nice Christmas underwater celebrating with the fish around the corals. It was very nice. We just locate the tree down there at depth of 5 metres. They could not allow us the environmental people around," Khaled Al-Masri, a Palestinian diver told Reuters.
    This is a yearly tradition that a few Palestinian divers started 5 years ago.

    "Something we planned since last year, and we hope the world will like it under the water. They will visit and will celebrate with us Christmas and hope everyone a Happy Christmas...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, " Samir Sharif, a Palestinian dive instructor wearing a Santa suit said.
    The Red Sea stretches along the shores of Jordan, Israel and Egypt. Its spectacular ocean life and coral reefs attract thousands of divers and snorkelers from around the world.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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