Three UAE-based Indians, Jamsheer Thanalot, Abhishek Rawat and Isha Raj, jumped from 13,000 feet above Benghazi, Libya, to unfurl the Indian Tricolour mid-air.
They were part of a group of 65 skydivers from about 38 nationalities, who together flew roughly 35 national flags during the jump as part of a Guinness World Record attempt.
Jamsheer, a Dubai-based businessman, called it a proud moment, since people from so many countries came together for the attempt while he represented India.
For the three UAE-based Indians, the coincidence of Independence Day made the achievement even more special. "It is a very proud feeling for us. There were people from so many countries, and we were there representing India," Jamsheer told the media.
Guinness World Records took a few days to review the evidence before confirming the record, with the news arriving just ahead of India's Independence Day.
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Reaching the final attempt was not simple. Participants had to complete three training and qualification jumps in Libya before the actual record attempt, and disqualification remained a real risk throughout.
"I told my wife before going that there was a chance I might not be able to participate in the final jump. It was high-risk, and there was always a possibility of being disqualified during the qualification jumps," he said.
Jamsheer said he barely slept the night before, managing only around three hours, with his smartwatch showing a sleep score of just 12 percent. He admitted feeling nervous next to skydivers with thousands of jumps behind them, since he completed just over 320 jumps himself.
He revealed an interesting conversation he had with his wife: "I told my wife before going that there was a chance I might not be able to participate in the final jump. It was high-risk, and there was always a possibility of being disqualified during the qualification jumps."
Once airborne, the real challenge began. Skydivers had to deploy their parachutes safely, then open large national flags without letting them tangle with the parachute lines, all while keeping a safe distance from other jumpers.
Landing added one more layer of pressure, since participants needed to touch down inside a camera-covered zone for the jump to count toward the record.
Jamsheer's path to this record began 15 years ago, when he moved to the UAE in 2011 and started working as a salesman earning Dh1,200 a month. He later built his own e-commerce business, Jazp.com, in Dubai, and took up skydiving only about four years ago.
Since then, he completed over 320 jumps across countries including the UAE, Russia and Kuwait, and even won a gold medal at a skydiving competition in Kuwait last year.
Abhishek Rawat, a Product Design Lead at Malaffi, and Isha Raj, an account director at Edelman Smithfield, both based in Abu Dhabi, joined him as experienced skydivers on the team.
The event was organised by Skydive Benghazi, Ultimate High by Yas, and several other coordinators, and while the jump itself was not planned around India's Independence Day, the timing of the confirmation gave the trio one more reason to celebrate.