Saudi divers build world's first-ever underwater mosque

A group of private Saudi divers said they had built what they described as the first underwater mosque in history and that they performed prayers inside it just after it was completed, according to a newspaper. The divers used massive plastic pipes filled with sand to construct the symbolic mosque under the water off the Saudi northwestern town of Tabuk close to the border with Jordan, the Saudi daily (al-Madina) said. "One of our colleagues came up with this idea last summer and we decided to carry it out," diver Hamadan bin Salim Al Masoudi said. "We have just completed the construction of the mosque when we put the final touches on it, it was time for afternoon prayers, so we performed group prayers in the first underwater mosque in history," he said.