Remaining 2 Bodies Of Italians Recovered From Underwater Cave In Maldives
MALE, Maldives (AP) — Divers on Wednesday recovered the last two bodies of four Italians who died deep inside an underwater cave in the Maldives last week.
Italian divers were exploring the cave in Vaavu Atoll when he disappeared on Thursday. The Italian diving instructor’s body was found outside the cave and Finnish rescue divers also two of the divers to the surface on Tuesday.
Presidential spokesman Mohameed Hussain Shareef said the last two bodies were found by three Finnish divers supported by the Maldives coast guard and police.
The bodies were taken to the morgue and identified as Muriel Oddenino and Giorgia Sommacal. Monica Montefalcone and Federico Gualtieri were taken out on Tuesday, government spokesman Ahmed Shaam said. Instructor Gianluca Benedetti was found near the mouth of the cave on the day the divers disappeared.
Montefalcone and Sommacal were mother and daughter.
“From now on, we will coordinate with the Italian government and initiate the procedure for repatriating the bodies,” Shareef said. He thanked the Finnish divers and praised them for their professionalism and leadership.
four bodies found It was at a depth of about 60 meters (200 feet) on Monday, twice the legal depth for recreational diving in the island nation. Search efforts were later temporarily suspended. a local military diver died during a dangerous rescue attempt.
The Maldivian government said rescue divers located the bodies in the innermost part of the cave. Shaam said the four bodies were found “pretty much together.”
Presidential spokesman Shareef previously told The Associated Press that the cave had been explored in the past by local experts and foreign divers.
Although the Italian divers had permission, authorities did not know the exact location of the cave they were investigating in their proposal, and at least two of the dead were not on the list of researchers submitted, so we did not know they were part of the expedition, Shareef said.
He described conditions deep within the cave as “challenging” due to difficult terrain, strong currents and poor visibility.
A warning was also issued due to bad weather conditions and investigators needed to determine whether divers took adequate precautions, Shareef said.
The European Divers’ Alert Network, which commissioned the Finnish divers, described them as technical and cave divers with experience in search and rescue missions, including “deep overhead environments, confined spaces and high-risk scenarios”.
The rescue team used closed-circuit breathing apparatus, a system that recycles exhaled breathing gas and removes carbon dioxide through a chemical scrubber, allowing for “significantly longer dives,” the organization said.
The Maldivian military diver’s cause of death is still under investigation, but colleagues suggest he may have died from nitrogen narcosis or decompression at depth.
Francis Colombo reported from Sri Lanka.
