The divers broke the Guinness World Record for the most people involved in an underwater cleaning operation in 24 hours, according to the Oceanum Liberandum association.

The Portuguese non-profit organisation managed to gather 842 divers in the Port of Sesimbra, beating the previous record of 633 divers which was reached in 2019, in Florida, in the United States.

According to the co-founder and president of the NGO, Débora Laborde, the initiative removed about seven tons of rubbish from the bottom of the port of Sesimbra.

“We broke two records. The world's largest underwater clean up in 24 hours and we broke the world's largest sentence made with recyclable material,” she said.

The sentence formed with 5,253 pieces of recyclable material read: “Oceanum Liberandum in defense of the oceans, Sesimbra”.

The initiative started at 08:00 on Saturday and ended at 08:00 on Sunday, with the presence of a judge from the Guinness World Records organisation.

“Some of the garbage collected was returned to the fishermen to reuse because it was in good condition”, added the NGO.

Asked about upcoming initiatives, Débora Laborde said that the organisation is “planning some events of this kind for next year”, without giving too many details.

Oceanum Liberandum is a Portuguese NGO that fights for a less polluted planet and develops underwater and beach cleaning actions.