A Maldivian diving expert has offered a harrowing potential narrative regarding what five Italian divers might have experienced before dying in a scuba diving tragedy last week.
The divers died on Thursday, May 14 while exploring the Alimathaa cave system in the Vaavu Atoll. They were 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.
Yesterday it was announced that the bodies of Montefalcone, Sommacal, Oddenino, and Gualtieri had been located within the cave system. Benedetti’s body had already been found as it was in the first chamber of the cave, and so easier to access.
Recovery efforts were launched last Thursday after the divers were reported missing, before adverse weather forced search teams to halt operations. A rescue diver then died of decompression sickness on Saturday while aiding in the search for the bodies of the group.
According to reports, the Italian nationals were ultimately 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.”
While speculation as to what exactly befell the group remains rampant, one former military diver for the Maldives National Defence Force, Shafraz Naeem, has weighed in with his thoughts, suggesting that the divers may not have entered the cave system correctly.
Naeem has more than 30 years of technical diving experience, and currently advises the Maldives National Defence Force. He claims to have personally visited the Alimathaa cave system over 50 times.
Naeem revealed: “I have visited those caves countless times. There is no current. They swam into that third cave. They chose to go in there.”
Of the fact that Benedetti’s body was found in a different part of the cave system to the other divers, Naeem continued: “I believe the instructor intentionally swam away from the group. Maybe he legged it up before he ran out of air.
“The rest of the group died in that third chamber and Benedetti died in the passageway trying to get out.”
The cave is split into three chambers, connected via a series of small tunnels and passageways. Naeem admitted he had never entered the third chamber due to how dangerous it is.
“The cave is unforgiving… it is closed, pitch-black, and you can only see where you shine the light,” he explained.
“If something goes wrong, you cannot shoot up to the surface like you can in open dives. You are stopped and restricted, and, at that depth of below 55m, it is just completely dangerous.”
Furthermore, Naeem stated his opinion that the dive breached Maldivian safety rules.
“Everyone knows the rules were broken,” he told Italian news agency ANSA. He also believes a combination of technical problems may have led to the divers becoming trapped.
“Caves are unforgiving because you cannot make a direct ascent,” he explained. “Even the most experienced divers can face considerable challenges.”
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