The specialist search team has today retrieved the bodies of two of the five missing Italian divers who had lost their lives while exploring an underwater cave in Vaavu atoll. 

On the day of the incident, responders found the body of one diver, and the remaining four were presumed to be deeper inside the cave. 

Yesterday, the bodies of the four divers were located deep inside the cave. Two have been retrieved today, Mihaaru News reports, although an official statement is yet to be issued by authorities. 

The search team will work on retrieving the remaining two bodies tomorrow. 

The missing divers were located by experienced divers diving to the depths of the cave using the most modern technology specialized for such matters, the Divers Alert Network (DAN), which is leading the operation, said yesterday.   

The dive to find the missing persons commenced at 12:20pm yesterday and lasted for approximately three hours, DAN said.  

DAN stated that during the first phase of the operation, a team of three experienced divers from Finland inspected the inside of the cave, assessed its environment and operational conditions, and located the bodies of all four missing divers inside. 

MNDF stated yesterday that the bodies of the four missing divers has been located inside the Vaavu atoll cave on a joint search and recovery operation conducted by MNDF Coast Guard, Police, and a team of experts arranged by the Italian Government. They added that further dives will be carried out in the coming days to recover the bodies.  

It has been reported that the recovery mission plans to retrieve two bodies each day, today and tomorrow.

The death of Staff Sergeant Mohamed Mahdhee during a search dive led to the operation being halted last Saturday. It was resumed yesterday morning after international experts flew in to assist with the search. 

In connection with this tragic marine incident, the worst to occur in recent history in Maldives, the Tourism Ministry has also suspended the operating license of the liveaboard "MV Duke of York" on which the divers had been gone for the dive.