University professor Monica Montefalcone and her 20-year-old daughter Giorgia Sommacal died on a diving trip. Photo / Giorgia Sommacal
University professor Monica Montefalcone and her 20-year-old daughter Giorgia Sommacal died on a diving trip. Photo / Giorgia Sommacal
The bodies of four of the five Italian divers who died during a diving trip in the Maldives have been found.
The group failed to resurface after diving 48m into a cave in the waters of Vaavu Atoll, in the Maldives, last Thursday.
A rescue diver also diedon Saturday following an operation to recover the bodies. The rescue diver died from decompression-related complications after surfacing during the search.
The search was suspended after the death of Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF) diver Staff Sergeant Mohamed Mahudhy. It resumed on Monday with assistance from Italy, Britain and Australia.
Three Finnish experts from the Divers Alert Network, an international dive safety group, were also involved.
The body of the fifth diver had already been located and it has now been confirmed the other four divers have also been found.
“The bodies of four missing divers have been located inside the Vaavu Atoll cave, on a joint search and recovery operation,” the MNDF said in statement.
It could take some time to bring the bodies to the surface, the MNDF added, with further dives to be “carried out in the coming days to recover the bodies”.
According to chief government spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef, the bodies were found in a cave that was much bigger and deeper than first thought.
“They were all found pretty much together in the third segment of the cave, which is bigger than what we initially thought,” Shareef told AFP.
“The plan is to recover two of the bodies tomorrow and the other two possibly the day after,” he said.
The cave was reportedly at a depth of about 60m, which is double of what tourists in the Maldives are allowed to dive to.
Monica Montefalcone, a marine biology professor at the University of Genoa, and her 20-year-old daughter, Giorgia Sommacal were two of the divers who died in the cave.
Muriel Oddenino of Turin, Gianluca Benedetti of Padua, and Federico Gualtieri of Borgomanero are the other three victims.
Muriel Oddenino (left) and Gianluca Benedetti (right) also died in the diving accident. Photo / Muriel Oddenino and Gianluca Benedetti
In an interview on Italian TV, Montefalcone’s husband described her as an experienced, disciplined and careful diver.
Respiratory expert Claudio Micheletto said the sudden deaths of multiple divers may have been caused by oxygen toxicity, a condition triggered by breathing oxygen at high pressure for a prolonged period, which can damage tissue and compromise the central nervous system, Il Messaggero reported.
The cause had not been confirmed by authorities. Weather conditions may also have complicated operations – a yellow alert was in effect in the dive area, issued by the Maldives Meteorological Service, because of rough seas and worsening weather.
The Maldives has suspended the operating licence of the luxury vessel from which the Italians had been diving and launched an investigation to determine whether safety regulations had been breached.
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