Italian prosecutors launched their own investigation Friday into the horrific deaths of five of its nationals on a scuba dive trip in the Maldives – as the search for the remaining bodies had to be halted due to “very bad” weather hitting the idyllic islands.
Rome prosecutors are waiting for a report from the Italian consulate in Sri Lanka, which represents the tourist hotspot, before deciding whether to hand the case over to local law enforcement, according to Italy’s ANSA news agency.
Local authorities are investigating whether weather warnings and diving regulations were ignored prior to Thursday’s tragedy near the island of Alimatha.
Four of the five adventure seekers who vanished are still missing and divers searched two segments of the cave, which is around 200 feet below the surface — double the recreational diving depth limit in the Maldives which is 100 feet.
Challenging weather conditions have since put a pause on the recovery operation.
“On this occasion, the Maldivian divers were only able to enter the first two, then had to ascend to allow for decompression time, and have not yet been able to spot the bodies of the other Italian divers,” Damiano Francovigh, the Italian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, said.
“They plan to make another dive, but only tomorrow. The weather conditions in the Maldives are currently very bad, with strong gusts of wind and heavy rain. I was also told about strong currents, all of which unfortunately make operations more difficult.”
Divers, air support units, and boats were deployed as part of the search efforts.
One body has been recovered. Maldivian media suggested Monica Montefalcone’s remains had been recovered, but ANSA says the body is that of diving instructor and boat captain Gianluca Benedetti.
Three other adventure seekers on the trip — Muriel Oddenino, Federico Gualtieri, and Montefalcone’s daughter Giorgia Sommacal — also failed to resurface.
Authorities revealed 20 other Italians were on board the Duke of York vessel before the plunge, which was supposed to last one hour.“They dived at 11:00 a.m. and when we didn’t see them resurface around 12:00 p.m. we started searching for them with the boat,” one person told ANSA.
Others said the sea was “nice” and there was good visibility – before the weather deteriorated.
But it remains a mystery as to what happened underwater.
“We have no idea what might have happened in those caves,” a tourist said.
Medical experts have already started to share theories that could offer insights into the deaths.
Pulmonologist Claudio Micheletto told the Italian outlet Adnkronos that the divers may have died from oxygen toxicity.
“When you breathe in too high a concentration of oxygen, the gas becomes toxic to the body,” he said.
“During the dive, dizziness, pain, altered consciousness and disorientation occur, making it impossible to surface.”
But, Alfonso Bolognini, president of the Italian Society of Underwater and Hyperbaric Medicine, suggested the divers may have panicked underwater, which can hinder visibility and increase the risk of fatal errors.
Freediver Umberto Pelizzari, who traveled on the Duke of York six months ago, said divers can “get lost in the cave.”
“You enter the first room, then the second, then a third,” he told La Stampa.
“You turn around, the water is murky, and you think you’ve passed that way, but you’re wrong.
“You’re out of control. And you’re at [150-200 feet], where there are diving rules and times to respect. The cave becomes a trap.”
