The bodies of Monica Montefalcone, a professor who was among the Italian divers that died while inside an underwater cave near V. Alimatha, and her daughter have now been taken to Italy.
However, Carlo Somacal, who is in deep mourning following the loss of his wife and daughter, has stated that he does not even have the courage to go and identify the bodies of the mother and daughter.
He explained the reason by revealing the special love and position he held for his 52-year-old wife and 20-year-old daughter.
In a post on social media, the husband of Monica, who worked as a marine biology professor at the University of Genoa, described his wife and daughter as "two princesses."
He also described them as a mother and daughter who were always smiling, and as two souls full of life's joy.
According to Somacal, the entire world of the mother and daughter revolved around education and learning. He also wrote that the biggest hope of his daughter, Giorgia, who had finished studying biomedical engineering, was to advance in the field of marine biology just like her mother.
"My daughter would always say, my mom does such perfect, such beautiful work," Somacal's post reads.
In his view, the mother and daughter are two "mermaids" who reign over the ocean world.
He said that every time he said something to them out of dissatisfaction, he would feel immensely sorry afterward, because the smiles never faded from the faces of the mother and daughter under any circumstance.
Even though the bodies of all the Italians who died in the incident have now been taken to Italy, Somacal lacks the courage to go and identify those bodies.
"I always see them happy and smiling. I do not want any other image engraved in my heart. Even thinking about it is a difficult thing to endure," he wrote.
Carlo noted that Monica's entire life was connected to the sea.
It is now difficult for him to even go near Monica's studio in Italy. That place has become filled with bouquets and messages of love left by well-wishers in her memory.
Apart from Monica and her daughter, the people who died in this incident, the most tragic diving incident to occur in the Maldives in recent history, include Murial Odenino from Turin, Italy, and Gianluca Benedetti from Padua, Italy.
Following a four-day search and recovery operation to find the divers who died after becoming trapped inside the underwater cave, the information disclosed so far indicates that the people died inside the cave after losing their way and entering a dead end.
The operation to recover the bodies of the deceased was carried out by the Divers Alert Network (DAN) in collaboration with the Maldivian military and police. In that report, experienced divers advised not to enter that cave without authorization from relevant authorities, specific training for cave diving, and the necessary technical equipment.
The report also stated that because cave diving is inherently dangerous, it is not something that should be done unless by parties who possess specialized training and full resources for it.
A diver from DAN Europe, who worked on recovering the bodies of the divers, has stated that the equipment used by those divers was not appropriate for diving into such a place, and that they had not used a guide rope either.
