French diver dies in an attempt to break freediving record

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) < A Frenchwoman attempting to break the world free diving record died Saturday shortly after plunging into the sea near La Romana
Audrey Mestre, attached to a pulley and 200-pound weighted sled, was pulled up by scuba divers 9 minutes, 44 seconds after she sunk below the surface without oxygen.
Medics tried to resuscitate her and took her in a speedboat 2 1/2 miles to a beach hotel, where she was declared dead. Her body was taken to Santo Domingo for an autopsy.
3An accident happened down there,2 said Carlos Serra, president of the Miami-based International Association of Free Divers. 3We believe something hit the sled. When she came out of the water she was foaming from the mouth and bleeding.2
Serra said Mestre reached her target depth of 561 feet at the beach near La Romana, about 80 miles from Santo Domingo. But in order for it to be considered a record, she needed to return to the surface safely, he said. 3Something went terribly wrong,2 said Jeff Blumenfeld of Mares, the Italian diving company that sponsored the 28-year-old Mestre. 3We don1t know what happened yet.2
Mestre was trying to break the world record of 531.5 feet set by her husband, Cuban Francisco 3Pipin2 Ferreras, off Cozumel, Mexico, in January 2000. Mestre set the female world record last year, plunging to a depth of 426.5 feet off Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Blumenfeld said 13 scuba divers had been monitoring the dive for safety, and that Mestre was given oxygen on the ascent by one of the divers.
On a free dive, the diver plunges to a great depth and comes straight back to the surface. Decompression is not needed because the diver has not breathed in any air during the dive.

Text : Sports Editor Brian Perdue West Hawaii, 13.Oct.2002

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