Five Italians die during cave scuba dive in Maldives

Five Italians died in a scuba diving accident in the Maldives, Rome’s foreign ministry said.

“The divers are believed to have died while trying to explore caves at a depth of 50 meters (164 ft),” the ministry said, adding that this occurred in Vaavu Atoll. he said.

Four of the divers were part of the University of Genoa team, which included ecology professor Monica Montefalcone, her daughter, and two researchers.

The Maldives military said one body was found in a cave about 60 meters under water, while four other divers were believed to be there.

It was stated that the search operation, in which divers were sent to the region with special equipment, was very high risk.

Italy’s foreign ministry said on Friday that authorities were working with Maldivian authorities to search for the bodies.

In the previous statement, it was stated that 20 Italian citizens on the Duke of York yacht, where five divers took off, were not harmed and that they received help from the Italian Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The ministry added that the yacht was waiting for weather conditions to improve before returning to Male, the capital of the Maldives.

The incident is believed to be the single worst diving accident in the small Indian Ocean nation, which is a popular tourist destination due to its coral islands.

Five Italians entered the water on Thursday morning, local media reported.

The crew of the dive ship they were traveling on later reported them lost when they failed to surface.

Police said the weather was harsh in the area about 100 km (62 miles) south of Male. A yellow warning has been issued for passenger boats and fishermen.

The University of Genoa later named the victims as Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, who was also a student, research assistant Muriel Oddenino, and marine biology graduate Federico Gualtieri.

The fifth victim was stated to be boat operations manager and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.

In a statement regarding X, the University of Genoa expressed its “deepest condolences” to the victims.

Italian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Damiano Francovigh confirmed to broadcaster Sky TG24 that one body had been found, while the other four had not yet been located.

Italy’s foreign ministry said that according to initial reconstructions, the cave into which five divers entered was divided into three large chambers connected by narrow passages.

Coast Guard divers made a second dive Friday morning and discovered two of the three chambers.

Another dive will be made on Saturday to explore the third chamber.

Monica Montefalcone’s husband, Carlo Sommacal, told Italian newspaper La Repubblica that his wife was “among the best divers in the world.”

Sommacal described Montefalcone as “prepared and meticulous” and added that “our daughter would never give up on her work.” [Giorgia’s] life or the life of others at risk”.

“Maybe there was a problem with one of them, maybe there was a problem with the oxygen tanks, I have no idea,” he added.

The causes of the accident have not yet been confirmed, but dive master Maurizio Uras suggested that “oxygen poisoning” may have been a contributing factor.

“This is a phenomenon that can happen when you dive too deep,” he told Italian news agency Agi: “If the oxygen mixture is insufficient, oxygen can become toxic at certain depths.”

He added: “Weather conditions are also an important factor and we need to take into account that the Indian Ocean is not the relatively calm Mediterranean.

“There [in the Indian Ocean]There are strong currents that I think could pull it from one side to the other. It’s a real danger.”

Diving and snorkeling accidents are relatively rare in the Maldives, but several fatalities have been reported in recent years.

Last December An experienced British female diver drowned in scuba diving incident off the island resort of Ellaidhoo. Her husband died five days after falling ill.

In 2024, a Japanese member of parliament died while snorkeling at Lhaviyani Atoll.