Italy will posthumously award the Gold Medal for Civil Valour to MNDF officer Sergeant First Class Mohamed Mahudhee.

The Gold Medal for Civil Valour is one of the highest civilian distinctions conferred by Italy to honour acts of extraordinary civic virtue and courage. 

The Embassy of Italy in Colombo, Sri Lanka, announced that Mahudhee is being conferred this award for the extraordinary courage he exhibited while participating in the search and recovery operation in the Alimatha underwater cave in Vaavu Atoll for missing Italian divers. Mahudhee tragically lost his life during the operation due to decompression sickness. 

The Embassy of Italy in Colombo and the Honorary Consular Agency of Italy in Male' has also initiated fundraising drive to support late Mahudhee's family. 

Donations are being accepted from now until the end of the year. The Embassy announced that contributions can be directed to the Sergeant Mahdhee Memorial Fund, MVR Account Number 901 01 53500004 1001 (SWIFT / BIC Code MADVMVMVXXX) at the Maldives Islamic Bank. 

In May this year, four Italian tourists and their Italian diving instructor went missing after going diving to explore an underwater cave at 60m depth near V. Alimatha. 

Mahudhee was part of the first responding team of divers from MNDF who joined the search for the missing divers. He was rushed to ADK Hospital due to decompression sickness, but later passed away while under treatment. 

The operation was temporarily halted following Mahudhee's passing. However, a specialized technical diving team from Finland later led the recovery effort, assisted by international experts, MNDF and Police, through which the bodies of the missing divers were recovered and repatriated to Italy.