DAVID BLAINE >> UNDERWATER STUNT

NEW YORK   9th MAY 2006

     US Illusionist David Blaine, who has been submerged since Monday [1st May] in a water-filled sphere in downtown New York, is growing weak and will recieve medical attention over the weekend, his spokesman said.

     "Doctors are concerned that he's weakening. They are going to work with him through the weekend, trying to stabilize both his diet and his training regimen," spokesman Pat Smith told AFP.

     "His skin is peeling very badly on his hands. Those are out biggest concerns right now", Smith said.

     The spokesman said "Blaine, 33 is telling the people 'I feel great',... and he is determined to see his seven-day stunt through to the end.

     Prolonged submersion for the length of time proposed by Blaine poses a number of hazards, including nerve damage, blackouts, sleep deprivation and skin problems.

     The US magician lowered himself into an eight-foot-high (2.5 - meter -high) water - filled acrylic sphere in the plaza of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Monday, where he planned to remain submerged for seven days.

     "My only fear is the unknown", he said before descending into the transparent sphere in front of several hundred people. He admitted that the world would see something "prettily issue" if his plan goes wrong. A mask and an air line are keeping Blaine alive, while sustenance is being provided in the form of liquid nutrition through a tube.

     Blaine said that after the week is up, he would come out and be handcuffed, wrapped in 150 pounds (68 kilos) of metal chains and dropped back inside the sphere.

     He aims to hold his breath for about nine minutes, while escaping from the chains. The current world record for a human holding his breath is eight minutes and 58 seconds.

     Previous Blaine stunts have included being encased in ice for nearly 62 hours, being suspended above London's River Thames for 44 days in a glass box and spending 35 hours on a 100-foot-high (30 -meter-high) pillar that was only 22 inches (56 centimeters) wide.