The last words of one of the marine biologists who died in the Maldives diving tragedy last week have come to light amidst the sorrow and confusion.
Five divers lost their lives in a scuba diving accident last Thursday in Vaavu Atoll, in the Indian Ocean archipelago. They’ve since been identified as University of Genoa marine biology professor Monica Montefalcone and her 20-year-old daughter Giorgia Sommacal, along with Muriel Oddenino, Gianluca Benedetti, and Federico Gualtieri.
Compounding the tragedy, and with circumstances that led to the incident still uncertain, one Maldivian military rescue diver then died from decompression sickness during an attempted recovery mission.
Italy’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “The divers are reported to have died while attempting to explore caves at a depth of 50 metres [164 feet].”
The husband of marine biology professor Monica Montefalcone – and father to Giorgia Sommacal – has spoken publicly to question how five divers could have died on the trip.
Despite various experts criticizing the decision to dive so deep, Carlo Sommaca told Italian newspaper La Repubblica that his wife “would never have put the life of our daughter or other kids at risk.”
Speaking to The Times, he added: “My only certainty is that my wife is one of the best scuba divers on the face of the earth.”
Meanwhile, the 51-year-old Montefalcone’s last message to a colleague before her ill-fated last dive has come to light.
“It is fundamental to observe the underwater environment — which remains far too unknown to the general public — whether with our own eyes or through the lens of a robot,” Montefalcone wrote on Wednesday, one before her death.
The 51-year-old scientist had reportedly traveled to the Maldives to study how climate change is affecting tropical biodiversity.
Of the five deceased, thus far Gianluca Benedetti is the only one whose body has been recovered. Rescuers located him inside the cave on Thursday before adverse weather forced search teams to halt operations. Benedetti, a diving instructor, was a former banker who resettled in the Maldives years ago to pursue diving full-time.
Authorities believe that the bodies of Montefalcone and the other three divers in her group remain trapped inside the cave system.
Italian Ambassador Damiano Francovigh offered insight into the current obstacles standing in the way of rescue crews.
“It’s a particularly complex dive because the cave is divided into three separate, interconnected segments,” Francovigh said.
“The Maldivian divers were only able to enter the first two, then had to come up to allow time for decompression.”
The Vaavu Atoll cave diving disaster reportedly ranks as the deadliest single diving incident in the history of the Maldives. Various experts have weighed in on what could have killed the group, with theories including oxygen toxicity and panic inside the underwater cave system.
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