COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Maldivian military diver died Saturday while searching for the bodies of four Italian divers believed to be deep inside an underwater cave.
Five Italian divers are believed to have died while exploring a cave at a depth of about 160 feet in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday, according to Italy’s Foreign Ministry. The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is 30 meters, or about 98 feet. One of the bodies was recovered Thursday.
Maldives presidential spokesman Mohammed Hussain Shareef said that Mohamed Mahudhee, a member of the Maldivian National Defense Force, died of underwater decompression sickness after being transferred to a hospital in the capital.
“The death goes to show the difficulty of the mission,” he said.
Earlier, Shareef said the searchers had prepared a plan based on their progress exploring the cave Friday. Mahudhee was part of the group that briefed Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu on the rescue plan when he visited the search site Friday.
Rough weather has repeatedly hampered rescue efforts.
Search operations on Saturday involved eight local divers who searched in shifts, the Italian Foreign Ministry said. Initial teams had already dived to identify and mark the entrance to the cave system where the Italians disappeared.
Additional divers were expected to continue sequential dives in an effort to find and recover the bodies and bring them to the surface. The cause of the deaths remains under investigation.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said everything possible would be done to bring the victims’ bodies home. He offered his condolences for the death of the Maldivian diver.
Experienced divers
The Italian victims have been identified as Monica Montefalcone, 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 the Maldivian government.
Benedetti’s body was recovered Thursday near the mouth of the cave, and authorities believe the remaining four had entered the cave.
Montefalcone and Oddenino were in the Maldives on an official scientific mission to monitor marine environments and study the effects of climate change on tropical biodiversity, the University of Genoa said in a statement Friday. However, the scuba diving activity during which the deadly accident occurred was not part of the planned research and was “undertaken privately,” the statement said.
The statement also said the two other victims — student Sommacal and recent graduate Gualtieri — were not involved in the scientific mission.
Carlo Sommacal, Montefalcone’s husband and Giorgia’s father, expressed doubts over the accident, saying that “something must have happened down there” given his wife’s and daughter’s extensive experience.
Speaking to Italian TV, he described Montefalcone as a careful and highly disciplined diver who would never put her daughter or other colleagues at risk.
No authorization, tour operator says
The Italian tour operator that managed the Maldives’ diving trip denied authorizing or knowing about the deep dive that violated local limits, its lawyer told Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Saturday.
Orietta Stella, representing Albatros Top Boat, said the operator “did not know” the group planned to descend beyond 30 meters. That threshold requires special permission from Maldivian maritime authorities and the tour operator “would have never allowed it,” she said.
The dive far exceeded what was planned for a scientific cruise focused on coral sampling at standard depths, Stella added. Though the victims were experienced divers, the equipment used appeared to be standard recreational gear rather than technical equipment suited for deep cave diving, she said.
She also noted that Albatros only marketed the cruise and neither owned the vessel nor employed the crew, which was hired locally.
Cave diving is a highly technical and dangerous activity that requires specialized training, equipment and strict safety protocols. Risks increase sharply in environments where divers cannot head straight up and at depth, particularly when conditions are poor. Experts say it’s easy to become disoriented or lost inside caves, particularly as sediment clouds can sharply reduce visibility.
Diving at 50 meters (164 feet) also exceeds the maximum depth recommended for recreational divers by most major established scuba certifying agencies, with depths beyond 40 meters (131 feet) considered technical diving and requiring specialized training and equipment.
The Italian Foreign Ministry said the cave is divided into three large chambers connected by narrow passages. Recovery teams explored two of the three chambers Friday, but the search was limited due to considerations over oxygen and decompression.
Two Italians, a deep-sea rescue expert and a cave diving expert, were expected to join the recovery efforts, the ministry said.
Italian officials said that around 20 other Italians on the same expedition aboard the vessel Duke of York were safe. Italy’s embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka, was providing assistance to those onboard and had contacted the Red Crescent, which offered to deploy volunteers to help provide psychological aid.
The Maldives Tourism Ministry said it suspended the operating license of the Duke of York pending an investigation.
Francis and Zampano write for the Associated Press and reported from Colombo and Rome, respectively .
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