The bodies of all four missing Italian divers have been located inside the third segment of the underwater cave system at the Vaavu Atoll CaveDive site, according to information confirmed to The Standard following today’s orientation dive by foreign recovery experts.
The discovery was made after a team of elite Finnish cave diving specialists joined the recovery mission in the Maldives to assist local authorities in the highly complex underwater operation. The expert team includes renowned cave divers Sami Paakkarinen, Jenni Westerlund, and Patrik Grönqvist, who arrived in the Maldives with the support of Divers Alert Network (DAN) Europe.
Sources confirmed to The Standard that the bodies were identified during today’s exploratory dive inside the cave network, where the missing divers are believed to have become trapped at significant depths within narrow underwater passages.
The recovery effort has drawn international attention following the disappearance of the Italian divers during a cave diving expedition in Vaavu Atoll earlier this week. Previous search operations had been complicated by dangerous underwater conditions and the death of Maldivian military diver Mohamed Mahudhee, who died from decompression sickness while participating in the recovery mission.
The missing divers were identified in international reports as marine biologist Monica Montefalcone, biomedical engineering student Giorgia Sommacal, researcher Muriel Oddenino, and marine biology graduate Federico Gualtieri. Diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti was recovered earlier near the cave entrance.
President Dr Mohamed Muizzu had earlier stated that the search for the missing divers remained the government’s highest priority while extending condolences to the families affected by the tragedy.
Authorities have not yet announced when the recovery of the bodies will commence as assessments continue inside the cave system.
