Two Italian Divers Recovered From Maldives Cave as Search Continues
The bodies of two Italian divers have been brought to the surface from an underwater cave in Vaavu Atoll, the Maldives, a government spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday, as recovery teams work to retrieve two more victims still trapped inside. The five Italians were part of a group that entered a deepwater cave system on May 14. A sixth diver in the group chose not to enter the water at the last moment and survived.
The recovery on Tuesday was carried out by a joint team of Finnish cave-diving specialists and Maldivian police and military personnel, according to Maldivian Presidential Spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef. The two bodies were lifted to a depth of 30 metres by Finnish divers before Maldivian authorities brought them to the surface. “Identities have not been confirmed yet, but we know that it’s a male and female body that has been recovered,” Shareef told Reuters.
The operation has come at a cost beyond the five Italians. Sgt. Major Mohamed Mahudhee, a member of the Maldives National Defence Force, died of decompression sickness on Saturday after being hospitalised while searching for the missing divers. He was buried with military honours at a funeral attended by President Mohamed Muizzu. “The death goes to show the difficulty of the mission,” Shareef said following Mahudhee’s death.
The Maldivian government has identified the five Italian victims as Professor Monica Montefalcone, 51, 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 CBS News and the Associated Press. Benedetti’s body was the first recovered, found near the mouth of the cave on Thursday, May 15.
The group descended to approximately 48 metres — roughly 160 feet — inside a cave in Devana Kandu, a channel near Alimathaa Island in the north-eastern part of Vaavu Atoll, according to Italy’s Foreign Ministry. That depth far exceeded the 30-metre recreational diving limit set by Maldivian authorities, which requires special maritime permission for dives below that threshold.
The University of Genoa confirmed that Montefalcone and Oddenino were in the Maldives on an official scientific mission to study the effects of climate change on tropical marine biodiversity. The university said Friday, however, that the fatal dive “was not part of the planned research” and had been “undertaken privately.” Students Sommacal and Gualtieri were not connected to the official research mission at all, the university added.
Carlo Sommacal, Montefalcone’s husband and Giorgia’s father, rejected suggestions that the group had been reckless. Speaking to Italian television, he described his wife as a “disciplined diver” who carefully evaluated risk before every dive and “would never put her daughter or other colleagues at risk.” He said that “something must have happened down there” to explain the deaths given the group’s experience.
The Italian tour operator linked to the dive trip has also distanced itself from the incident. Orietta Stella, the lawyer representing Albatros Top Boat, told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Saturday that the operator “did not know” the group planned to descend beyond the legal limit. She said the operator “would have never allowed it,” as special permission from Maldivian maritime authorities would have been required.
The dive was conducted from the liveaboard vessel Duke of York. The Maldives Ministry of Tourism suspended the boat’s operating licence indefinitely as a precautionary measure, pending the outcome of the investigation into the incident. The cause of the deaths remains under official investigation.
Three Finnish divers, described by Maldivian authorities as experts in deep and cave diving, arrived in the Maldives on Sunday to support the recovery effort. They joined coastguard officials to map a new search strategy after the operation was suspended following Mahudhee’s death. Their participation on Monday led to the location of all four remaining bodies inside the cave, government spokesperson Ahmed Shaam confirmed, according to CBS News.
The Italian Foreign Ministry said the cave system is divided into three large chambers connected by narrow passages. Recovery teams had explored two of the three chambers by May 16, but oxygen and decompression constraints had restricted further penetration at that stage.
Maldivian officials have described the disaster as the single deadliest diving incident in the country’s history. The Maldives is an archipelago of 1,192 coral islands in the Indian Ocean, approximately 800 kilometres south of India, and diving tourism is a major component of its economy.
Background
The Maldives sets its recreational scuba diving limit at 30 metres, in line with guidance from major international certifying agencies. Dives beyond that depth require technical training, specialised equipment, and formal permits from maritime authorities. Cave diving adds further risk: divers cannot ascend directly to the surface in an emergency, and sediment disturbance can reduce visibility to near zero. The Duke of York liveaboard was operating in Vaavu Atoll, roughly 100 kilometres south of the capital Malé, at the time of the accident. Aircraft and speedboats were deployed for a major search on the afternoon of May 14 after the group was reported missing, the Maldives National Defence Force said.
What Happens Next
Recovery teams will now devise a plan to bring the two remaining bodies to the surface, spokesperson Shareef said on Tuesday. The Maldives Ministry of Tourism’s investigation into the Duke of York’s operating practices is ongoing. Italian consular officials remain in contact with the victims’ families to coordinate repatriation of the recovered remains. The cause of the five deaths is still under investigation by Maldivian authorities, with investigators examining whether the group descended significantly deeper than the permitted limit.
