Bodies of divers who died in Maldives scuba accident returned to Italy

The remains of four Italian divers who died deep inside an underwater cave earlier this month while diving in the Maldives were repatriated early Saturday, a Maldivian government spokesperson said.

Five Italian divers went missing on May 14 while exploring the cave about 160 feet underwater in Vaavu Atoll. The body of their Italian diving instructor was recovered outside the cave at the time and returned home.

A high-risk operation to recover the bodies faced hurdles and was initially suspended after Mohamed Mahudhee, Madlivian, a military diver who was part of the recovery team, was killed. Three Finnish expert deep and cave divers joined the mission and located the four bodies last week in the innermost chamber of the cave at a depth of around 200 feet, or 60 meters. The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is about 98 feet, or 30 meters.

Maldives President’s Spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef said Saturday two investigations were initiated; one into the death of the five divers and the other probing how Mahudheea died while on duty. Shareef also said Italy agreed to share any findings if autopsies were performed on the repatriated bodies.

The victims have been identified as Monica Montefalcone, an associate professor of ecology at the University of Genoa; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal; marine biologist Federico Gualtieri; researcher Muriel Oddenino; and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.

Government spokesperson Ahmed Shaam said earlier the four bodies were found “pretty much together.” Italy’s La Repubblica daily paper reported that the group was found inside a dead-end chamber. 

The CEO of Dan Europe, the Finnish group that eventually recovered the remains, told AFP that the group “may have got lost” while inside the structure. 

“Considering that they had a very limited air supply and therefore only a few minutes at the bottom, there probably wasn’t even time for them to make numerous attempts to find the correct exit,” Marroni said.