Divers find bodies of 4 Italians in Maldives sea cave

Searches had resumed on Monday after being suspended following the death of a local military diver during a perilous mission to try to reach them.

The government of the Indian Ocean island nation confirmed the bodies were spotted in the innermost part of the cave by three Finnish diving experts, supported by the Maldives police and the military.

“As was previously thought, the four bodies were found inside the cave, not only inside the cave but well inside the cave into the third segment of the cave, which is the largest part,” said Ahmed Shaam, a Maldives government spokesman.

He said the four were found “pretty much together.”

“The plan is they will try and recover two bodies tomorrow and possibly the other two the following day,” Shaam said in a voice clip sent to the media.

The body of a fifth Italian – a diving instructor – was found earlier outside the cave. The five were exploring a cave at a depth of about 160 feet in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday, according to Italy’s Foreign Ministry. The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is 30 meters (98 feet).

Three Finnish divers, experts in deep and cave diving arrived in the Maldives on Sunday.

Maldives presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef said earlier that the search was suspended after Mohamed Mahudhee, a member of the Maldivian National Defense Force, died of underwater decompression sickness after being transferred to a hospital in the capital on Saturday.

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, according to the Maldivian government.

Benedetti’s body was the one recovered on Thursday from near the mouth of the cave. 

Montefalcone and Oddenino were in the Maldives on an official scientific mission to monitor marine environments and study the effects of climate change on tropical biodiversity, the University of Genoa said in a statement Friday. However, the scuba diving activity during which the deadly accident occurred was not part of the planned research and was “undertaken privately,” it said.

Rough weather has repeatedly hampered rescue efforts.

Initial teams had already dived to identify and mark the entrance to the cave system where the Italians disappeared. The cause of the deaths remains under investigation.

Divers exceeded recommended limits 

Cave diving is a highly technical and dangerous activity that requires specialized training, equipment and strict safety protocols. Risks increase sharply in environments where divers cannot head straight up and at depth, particularly when conditions are poor. Experts say it’s easy to become disoriented or lost inside caves, particularly as sediment clouds can sharply reduce visibility.

The group’s depth exceeds the maximum depth recommended for recreational divers by most major established scuba certifying agencies. 

Benedetti’s body was recovered on Thursday. Shareef said Benedetti’s remains were found near the mouth of the cave. Authorities believed the remaining four had entered the cave.

The Italian foreign ministry said the cave is divided into three large chambers connected by narrow passages. Recovery teams explored two of the three chambers on Friday, but the search was limited due to considerations over oxygen and decompression.

Local officials called the incident the worst single diving accident in the history of the Maldives, a nation of 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered some 500 miles across the equator in the Indian Ocean.

Diving and water-sport-related accidents appear to be relatively rare in the South Asian nation, although several fatal incidents have been reported in recent years.

A British woman tourist died while diving in December, and her distraught 71-year-old husband died a few days later after falling ill.

A 26-year-old Japanese tourist went missing after a diving expedition near the capital in June.

Local media reports said at least 112 tourists had died in marine-related incidents in the archipelago in the past six years, with 42 of them falling victim to diving or snorkeling accidents.