Top divers join perilous mission to recover Italian tourists’ remains from Maldives sea cave

By Laura Sharman, CNN

(CNN) — International cave divers have arrived in the Maldives to step up the search for the remains of four Italians who died while scuba diving in the island paradise, a day after a military officer lost his life in the recovery attempt.

Three Finnish divers from the Divers Alert Network, a global scuba safety group, touched down in the Maldives on Sunday and were on their way to meet the local coast guard team to work on a new strategy to complete the mission, said the Maldives’ chief government spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef.

“They were recommended by Italy and have completed deep dives and cave dives around the world,” Shareef told CNN.

A fourth diving expert is expected to join the Finnish team on Sunday, as is specialist equipment from Australia and the United Kingdom.

Five Italian divers died after exploring the Vaavu Atoll on Thursday, prompting the multinational recovery mission. They were on a scuba diving expedition with another 20 Italian nationals, aboard the Duke of York vessel, according to Italy’s foreign ministry.

Diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti’s body was found at the mouth of the cave, leading authorities to believe the other four remain inside, Shareef said.

They are Monica Montefalcone, an associate professor of ecology at the University of Genoa; her daughter Giorgia Sommacal; marine biologist Federico Gualtieri; and researcher Muriel Oddenino.

The attempt to retrieve their bodies has already claimed another life, underscoring the peril and complexity of the recovery effort.

Senior military diver Sgt. Mohamed Mahudhee, 43, died on Saturday during a second recovery mission into the cave, which at its deepest point is 70 meters (230 feet) below the surface (about as deep as a 20-story building is tall), and 200 meters long.

“He was one of the most senior divers, which shows just how challenging this dive is,” Shareef said.

“He was diving in a pair, as per protocol, and returning to the surface when his partner realized something was wrong and the rest of the team jumped in to try and save him.”

Mahudhee was laid to rest in full military honors at a funeral ceremony in Malé, where thousands paid their respects including President Mohamed Muizzu, tourism and military officials, and foreign ambassadors.

Challenging conditions

Each rescue dive is limited to around three hours due to oxygen and decompression requirements, Shareef said.

During Saturday’s recovery operation, two divers marked the cave entrance by shooting a balloon up to the water’s surface. This allowed remaining crew to swim directly toward it and maximize their time inside.

However, conditions are extremely challenging, with unpredictable strong currents, narrow passageways leading to a vast chamber, and pitch-black darkness throughout, Shareef said.

“You have to be an expert for this level of diving,” he added.

Before resurfacing, the divers must stay in shallow water to decompress after ascending from the cave’s depths.

Authorities believe Mahudhee, a member of the national defense force, died from complications during this process.

The Maldives has extensive water safety protocols and expert divers, Shareef said, noting the archipelago’s ocean territory is around 3,000 times larger than its landmass.

Carlo Sommacal, Montefalcone’s husband and Giorgia’s father, was unsure what could have caused the accident, saying that “something must have happened down there” given his wife and daughter’s extensive experience.

Speaking to Italian TV, he described Montefalcone as a careful and disciplined diver who would never put her daughter or other colleagues at risk, the Associated Press reported.

He recalled her telling him at times: “This one I can do, you can’t” and how his wife survived the 2004 tsunami while diving off Kenya, the outlet said.

John Volanthen, a British Cave Rescue Council diving officer, who played a key role in the Thai youth soccer team in 2018, said it is unknown whether currents played a part in the incident, but that the cave’s depth and silt is what is “unquestionably hampering” recovery efforts.

“It’s essentially a very long way into the cave and normally, cave divers would lay a guideline to find their way into the cave. And that’s potentially what happened with the missing party,” he told CNN.

Panic can also affect divers, Volanthen said, with risks increasing on deeper dives due to narcosis – a temporary, intoxicating state from breathing compressed air.

Questions about dive’s legality

An investigation is underway to establish what happened to the divers – and how they all reached such depths.

“For recreational and commercial diving, by law, nobody is allowed to go further than 30 meters and unfortunately, this appears to have happened a lot deeper because even the cave’s mouth is almost 50 meters under,” Shareef said.

The vessel’s license has been suspended pending the results of the probe, according to Shareef, who said: “Everything will be looked into.”

The Italian tour operator that manages the Maldives diving trip denied authorizing or knowing about the deep dive that violated local limits, its lawyer told Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Saturday, according to an AP report.

Orietta Stella, representing Albatros Top Boat, said the operator “did not know” the group planned to descend beyond 30 meters. Crossing that threshold requires special permission from Maldivian maritime authorities and the tour operator “would have never allowed it,” she said.

The victims were experienced divers, but the equipment used appeared to be standard recreational gear rather than technical equipment suited for deep-cave diving, she said.

She also clarified that Albatros only marketed the cruise and neither owned the vessel nor employed the crew, which was hired locally.

CNN has contacted Albatros Top Boat for comment.

Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said everything possible would be done to return the victims’ remains, AP reported.

The University of Genoa paid tribute to the four missing divers, who either studied or taught at the institution.

“The sympathy of the entire university community goes out to the families, colleagues and students who shared their human and professional journey.”

Italian connection

The Maldives is highly reliant on tourism, welcoming more than 2 million visitors in 2025, according to its tourism ministry, compared with a resident population of 500,000.

Italy-based diving tour operator George Corbin is credited with introducing tourism to the former British colony in 1972, bringing journalists and photographers to the Indian Ocean islands as a “Robinson Crusoe” paradise.

Since then, Italy has consistently ranked among the Maldives’ largest tourism markets.

“Italy has a very special relationship with us when it comes to tourism, and we’ve been great friends in our hospitality for many years,” Shareef said.

“Local people are devastated not just because this is the biggest diving accident ever in this country but also because they are Italians.”

The Maldivian and Italian governments have been in communication “at the highest level,” with Muizzu sending his “deepest condolences” to Italian President Sergio Mattarella and the families of the victims, Shareef said.

Rome’s envoy to the country arrived in the capital Malé on Friday and joined rescuers aboard a coast guard ship, Italy’s foreign ministry said.

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