The bodies of the remaining four Italian divers who perished during a scuba diving accident in the Maldives last Thursday, May 14 have been located, as per the BBC.
Five divers lost their lives in the 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.
Benedetti’s body had reportedly already been located after the incident, before adverse weather forced search teams to halt operations. A rescue diver then died on Saturday while searching for the bodies of the group.
According to reports, the Italian nationals were found dead inside a 60-meter-deep cave by a joint team of highly trained Finnish and Maldivian divers.
Mohamed Hossain Shareef, a Maldivian government spokesperson, told the BBC: “Further dives [are] to be carried out in the coming days to recover the bodies.”
Shareef added that two of the bodies would be recovered tomorrow (Tuesday, May 18).
The remaining two the following day, he said.
Italy’s foreign ministry said the four bodies were located in the cave’s third section – the one furthest from the entrance – and that additional dives would be required to recover them.
The group are said to have entered the water at Vaavu Atoll last Thursday morning. They were then reported missing after failing to resurface later on.
The 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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