A group of divers who went missing in the Maldives have been discovered dead inside the infamous ‘shark cave’ after expert divers launched an operation to locate them
The infamous “shark cave” in the Maldives became the centre of a tragic recovery mission after four missing Italian tourists were found dead by an elite diving task force, officials confirmed.
Specialist divers launched a dangerous operation earlier this week to search the underwater cave system after rough weather severely disrupted local rescue attempts.
The group of five Italian scuba divers had disappeared on Thursday morning while conducting a university research expedition inside a cave around 160ft below the surface. Three highly experienced Finnish divers were brought in on Monday to lead a renewed search effort. Sami Paakkarinen, Jenni Westerlund, and Patrik Grönqvist arrived in the Maldives on Sunday to assist authorities in the remote island chain.
Italy’s foreign ministry confirmed the specialist team located the remaining four bodies after one victim had already been recovered by Maldivian crews over the weekend.
The missing tourists were identified as Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, Muriel Oddenino and Federico Gualtieri.
They had entered Thinwana Kandu cave – widely referred to as “shark cave” – alongside Gianluca Benedetti, who was rescued on the same day the divers vanished.
Officials said the bodies have now been located, although recovery efforts are expected to continue for several more days.
A Maldivian government spokesperson told BBC: “Further dives [are] to be carried out in the coming days to recover the bodies.” Italian officials added that the exact causes of death are still unknown.
At the time of the incident, 20 other tourists were aboard the Duke of York yacht, the vessel from which the divers began their expedition before going missing. Those passengers have since returned to Italy after the harrowing incident.
The specialist dive team involved in the operation are capable of reaching depths close to 500ft, a skill believed to have been crucial in locating the missing tourists.
The rescue unit was assembled within 48 hours and sent to the Maldives by DAN Europe, a diving safety organisation, to search the Alimatha cave network near Vaavu Atoll.
Paakkarinen and Grönqvist are well known internationally for helping recover surviving divers during Norway’s 2014 Plura cave diving disaster. The experienced divers have participated in several of the world’s most challenging underwater rescue operations.
The dangers of the mission were further underscored after a Maldivian military rescue diver also died on Saturday, bringing the total number of deaths linked to the tragedy to six.
Sergeant-major Mohamed Mahudhee reportedly died from decompression illness. Investigators have since revealed that the Duke of York yacht allegedly lacked authorisation for dives deeper than 100ft. Questions have also emerged over whether safety regulations were ignored before the expedition began.
Former Maldives National Defence Force diver Shafraz Naeem claimed that “rules were broken” during the risky cave dive and questioned why the group had been permitted to proceed.
He said: “The authorities have confirmed that the operator exceeded the Maldives’ recreational depth limit of 30 metres and conducted the dives without the necessary permits.
“Everyone knows the rules were broken; they didn’t even have a permit to conduct research at those depths.”
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