Recovery teams have successfully retrieved the bodies of Italian divers Giorgia Sommacal and Muriel Oddenino from the Vaavu Atoll cave system, completing the difficult multi-day recovery operation inside one of the Maldives’ most challenging underwater cave networks.
Sources involved in the operation confirmed to The Standard that the final two bodies were recovered following another high-risk technical diving mission carried out deep inside the cave on Wednesday.
Giorgia Sommacal was the daughter of renowned marine biologist Monica Montefalcone, whose body was also recovered earlier during the operation alongside Federico Gualtieri. The tragedy has deeply shocked Italy’s diving and marine research communities.
The recovery effort involved specialist cave divers, including an experienced Finnish technical diving team, working alongside Maldivian authorities under dangerous underwater conditions marked by poor visibility, narrow cave passages, and strong currents.
With the recovery of all remaining divers, authorities are now expected to shift focus fully toward the ongoing investigation into the incident. Maldives Police are examining GoPro cameras and diving equipment recovered from inside the cave system, while Italian prosecutors in Rome have launched a manslaughter investigation linked to the deaths of the five Italians involved in the expedition.
Investigators in Italy are also expected to question survivors and individuals aboard the safari vessel “Duke of York” as part of efforts to reconstruct the final moments leading up to the fatal dive.
