The search for the bodies of four Italian divers trapped in an underwater cave in the Maldives ended Saturday without recovering any remains — as a specialized European recovery team was dispatched to continue the operation.
Five Italian scuba divers vanished during a deep-water dive inside a cave 164 feet underwater in Vaavu Atoll Thursday — in what officials called the worst diving accident in the island nation’s history. Only one body, that of diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, 44, has been recovered so far.
Eight rescuers on Saturday from the Maldives National Defense Forces went looking for the remaining bodies inside the cave after weather halted the operation Friday.
But they didn’t find anyone. And tragically one of those Coast Guard divers — Sergeant Major Mohamed Mahudhee — died of suspected decompression sickness from ascending back to the surface too quickly.
Now, a team from Finland specialized in underwater recovery is due to arrive Sunday to take over, the lawyer for the family of one of the victims told Italian media.
“I have received confirmation from the diving insurance company that a specialized team has been called in,” Antonello Riccio, the lawyer for the family of marine biology master’s graduate Federico Gualtieri, 31, told La Presse.
“The operations, weather permitting, will begin on Monday morning,” she added.
At 164 feet below the surface, the cave sits well below the Maldives’ recreational diving depth limit. It is divided into three interconnected chambers, but recovery divers only have been able to reach the first two.
Meanwhile, Maldivian authorities suspended the operating license of the Duke of York, the yacht that carried the five divers, while the investigation continues.
Monica Montefalcone, 51, an award-winning marine biologist from the University of Genoa in Italy, was on a work trip to the Maldives to monitor the effects of climate change on tropical biodiversity, along with her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, 22, and research fellow Muriel Oddenino, 31 — who all died in the dive.
Federico Gualtieri, 31 — marine biology graduate who wrote his thesis on Maldives coral — also perished on the dive.
The cause of the divers’ deaths is still under investigation, though some experts have theorized that oxygen toxicity and sheer panic are possible factors. There was also a weather alert on the day of the dive.
