The bodies of all five Italian divers who went missing while exploring an underwater cave in Vaavu atoll have now been recovered.
The divers disappeared on Thursday while diving near Alimathaa Cave. The body of one diver was recovered on the same day, while the remaining four were later located inside the cave during a recovery mission carried out by Finnish expert divers alongside divers from the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and the police.
The victims were identified as Federico Gualtieri of Borgomanero, Monica Montefalcone, an ecology associate professor at the University of Genoa, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, Muriel Oddenino of Turin, and Gianluca Benedetti of Padua.
Chief Spokesperson at the President’s Office Mohamed Hussain Shareef (Mundhu), said two bodies were recovered yesterday, and the remaining two today, and transported to Male', where they are currently being kept at the morgue.
He thanked the Italian government, the MNDF, police, and local companies Foresight and Water Solutions for assisting in the operation.
“Both companies used their vehicles and machinery, especially things like ROVs. So thank you for your voluntary support,” he said.
A team of three experienced Finnish divers travelled to the Maldives to assist with the mission. During their first three-hour dive, the team located the missing divers inside the cave.
According to Mundhu, police have completed preliminary identification of the bodies, while forensic identification procedures remain ongoing.
He added that the Italian government is making arrangements to repatriate the bodies. The body of Muriel Oddenino, who was recovered on the first day of the search operation, has already been sent to Italy.
The recovery operation had initially planned to retrieve two bodies per day, yesterday and today.
The death of Staff Sergeant Mohamed Mahdhee during a search dive led to the operation being halted last Saturday. It was resumed Monday morning after international experts flew in to assist with the search.
The first body was recovered the same day of the incident from inside the cave at a depth of about 60 metres (197 feet).
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.
