Experts locate bodies of four missing Italian divers inside Maldives cave | Maldives
Rescue teams found the bodies of four Italian divers deep in an underwater cave on an atoll in the Maldives, four days after they were reported missing.
The search had resumed after being suspended after a local military diver died during a dangerous mission to reach them.
The Indian Ocean island nation’s government confirmed on Monday that the bodies were located in the innermost part of the cave by three Finnish diving experts with support from Maldivian police and military.
“The four bodies were found not only inside the cave, as previously thought, but also inside the third part of the cave, which is the largest part of the cave,” Maldives government spokesman Ahmed Shaam said.
He said the four were found “pretty much together.”
“The plan is to try to recover two bodies tomorrow and probably the other two the next day,” Shaam said in an audio clip sent to media. he said.
The body of the fifth Italian, a diving instructor, was previously found outside the cave. The five were exploring a cave at a depth of about 50 meters (160 ft) in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday, according to Italy’s foreign ministry. The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is 30 meters.
Maldives presidential spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef said the government had given the group the necessary permission to survey soft corals in the Devana Kandu area.
“What we didn’t know was that it was a cave dive,” Shareef said. “Because as divers will tell you and appreciate, it’s a very different discipline with its own challenges and risks, and especially at this depth, there’s a lot that can go wrong.”
Shareef said they suspended the operations of the boat used by the divers “because the rules here say that if you want to take divers on expeditions you need a dive school permit, but unfortunately they didn’t have one.”
Abdul Muhsin Moosa, boat operator of MV Duke of York, said the ship has a recreational depth permit of up to 30 metres.
“We are sharing these details with the government, as well,” he said, adding that the divers were briefed on arrival at the boat about Maldives’ recreational diving limits and that they are not allowed to go beyond 30 metres.
This is the deadliest incident in the country’s diving history.
Three Finnish divers who specialize in deep and cave diving arrived in the Maldives on Sunday.
Shareef had previously said the search was suspended after Maldives National Defense Force member Mohamed Mahudhee died of underwater decompression sickness after being transferred to a hospital in the capital on Saturday.
Severe weather conditions repeatedly hampered rescue efforts.
The first teams had already dived to locate and mark the entrance to the cave system where the Italians disappeared. The cause of the deaths is under investigation.
