Malé: The mysterious underwater caves in the Maldives, where five Italian divers were killed on Thursday, claimed yet another life on Saturday.
A rescue diver died while searching for the bodies of the four Italians. Authorities have now suspended the search operation.
Staff Sergeant Mohamed Mahdhee was taken to hospital in critical condition after participating in the rescue operation and later succumbed to his injuries, as reported by The Indian Express.
The five Italians disappeared on Thursday while attempting to explore caves at a depth of around 50 metres in Vaavu Atoll, about 100 kilometres south of the Maldivian capital Malé, according to the Associated Press (AP). The recreational diving limit in the country is 30 metres.
Rescue efforts will resume when a team of three Finnish divers reach the Maldives on Sunday. They are experts in deep and cave diving and will rethink the search strategy.
Meanwhile, Mahdhee was laid to rest with full military honors in a funeral attended by president Mohamed Muizzu. He was part of the group that had briefed Muizzu on the rescue plan when he visited the search site on Friday.
“The death goes to show the difficulty of the mission,” Maldives presidential spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef said.
The Italian divers are believed to have entered a cave system divided into three large chambers connected by narrow passages, authorities said.
Recovery teams explored two of the three chambers on Friday, but the operation was limited by oxygen and decompression constraints, according to Italy’s foreign ministry. Search teams were expected to explore the third chamber on Saturday.
A body – identified as diving instructor and boat operations manager Gianluca Benedetti – was recovered near the mouth of the cave on Thursday, while the remaining four are still believed to be inside, as per the report by AP.
The four others were identified as ecology professor Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, marine biologist Federico Gualtieri and researcher Muriel Oddenino..
Montefalcone and Oddenino had been in the Maldives on an official University of Genoa scientific mission, studying marine ecosystems and climate change impacts.
The university clarified though that the fatal dive itself was a “private” activity unrelated to the research project. Sommacal and Gualtieri were also not part of the scientific mission.
Rough weather and dangerous underwater conditions repeatedly hampered rescue efforts. The Maldives military described the recovery mission as “very high risk”, as cited by BBC.
Dives beyond 40 metres are considered technical diving and require specialised equipment and advanced training, experts have said.
A cave diving expert and a deep-sea rescue expert from Italy are expected to join the search effort, as per the AP report.
The Maldives tourism ministry has suspended the operating licence of the diving vessel “Duke of York” pending investigation. Italian officials said around 20 other Italians on board the vessel were safe, while Italy’s embassy in Colombo and the Red Crescent were coordinating assistance, including psychological support for passengers.
“Everything possible” would be done to bring the victims home, Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said. His ministry said it was coordinating with Divers Alert Network, a specialist diving organisation, to support recovery and repatriation efforts.
