Italian divers' bodies recovered from Maldives cave network
Italian divers' bodies recovered from Maldives cave network
Three Finnish divers helped locate four Italian divers deep inside a Maldives cave, as authorities review safety rules after a diver's death during the mission.
The bodies of two Italian divers have been recovered from an underwater cave network in the Maldives. The five divers in the group died last week, with one body recovered outside the caves on Friday. Recovery work paused over the weekend after a local military diver died during a mission to retrieve the others.
On Monday, three Finnish diving experts, supported by police and military personnel, located the bodies in the deepest section of the cave, about 60 meters deep. They planned to bring the bodies to within 30 meters of the surface, where the coast guard would take over before handing them to the police.
Authorities said the four bodies were found inside the cave, not just inside, but deep into the cave's third and largest segment. The officials said the four were found pretty much together.
The Maldives government said it planned to recover the bodies of two other divers on Wednesday.
The five divers have been identified as Monica Montefalcone, a marine ecologist at the University of Genoa; her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, a biomedical engineering student at Genoa; Muriel Oddenino, a research fellow; Federico Gualtieri, a former student of the ecologist; and Gianluca Benedetti, a diving instructor.
The Maldives police have opened a criminal investigation into the incident, examining whether the diving trip complied with safety regulations, including weather warnings.
Experts say the four missing divers were found inside the cave.
