A Maldivian military diver has died during a high-risk operation to recover the bodies of four Italian scuba divers who drowned while exploring a deep underwater cave in the Maldives. Mohamed Mahudhee, a member of the Maldivian national defence force, suffered decompression sickness after searching for the bodies and died in hospital in the capital, Male.
The five Italians died in a scuba diving accident in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday, according to Italy's foreign ministry. The body of one diver, Gianluca Benedetti, was found near the mouth of a cave, while the remaining four are believed to be inside the same cave, which is divided into three large chambers connected by narrow passages. The deceased have been identified as Monica Montefalcone, an associate ecology professor at the University of Genoa, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, marine biologist Federico Gualtieri, researcher Muriel Oddenino, and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.
Authorities temporarily suspended recovery attempts on Friday due to bad weather but resumed on Saturday. A recovery team of eight divers had explored two of the three chambers on Friday but were hampered in efforts to explore the third. Two Italian experts—a deep-sea rescue expert and a cave diving expert—were expected to join the recovery effort. Italy's foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said the government 'will do everything possible to recover the bodies of our compatriots.'
The incident is the worst single diving accident in the Maldives, which has 1,192 tiny coral islands. The University of Genoa said Montefalcone and Oddenino were on an official scientific mission to monitor marine environments and study the effects of the climate crisis on tropical biodiversity. Montefalcone's husband, Carlo Sommacal, ruled out recklessness on his wife's part, saying 'something must have happened.'
Diving at 50 metres exceeds the maximum depth recommended for recreational divers by most scuba certifying agencies. The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is 30 metres. The Italians were passengers aboard a 36-metre luxury yacht, the Duke of York, whose operating licence was suspended indefinitely on Saturday pending an investigation. Maldivian presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef said investigators were looking into why the group went below the permitted depth.
