In a tragic turn of events that underscores the perils of deep-sea exploration, a Maldivian military diver has died during a high-risk operation to recover the bodies of four Italian scuba divers who perished in an underwater cave. The diver, identified as Mohamed Mahudhee of the Maldivian national defence force, succumbed to underwater decompression sickness after being airlifted to a hospital in the capital, Male. The mission, already fraught with danger, was temporarily suspended on Friday due to bad weather but resumed on Saturday, only to claim another life.
The Italians, who were exploring caves at a depth of 50 metres (164ft), had apparently died while attempting to navigate the treacherous underwater labyrinth in Vaavu Atoll. The body of the fifth diver, Gianluca Benedetti, was found near the cave's mouth, but rescuers believe the remaining four are trapped inside, in a cave divided into three large chambers connected by narrow passages. A recovery team of eight divers, working in pairs, had explored two of the three chambers on Friday but were thwarted in their efforts to reach the third. The search resumed with the expected addition of two Italian experts - a deep-sea rescue specialist and a cave diving expert - to the recovery effort.
Italy's foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, vowed that the government "will do everything possible to recover the bodies of our compatriots." The deceased have been identified as Monica Montefalcone, an associate ecology professor at the University of Genoa, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, marine biologist Federico Gualtieri, researcher Muriel Oddenino, and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti. The cause of their deaths remains under investigation.
Montefalcone and Oddenino were on an official scientific mission to monitor marine environments and study the effects of the climate crisis on tropical biodiversity, according to the University of Genoa. Montefalcone's husband, Carlo Sommacal, adamantly ruled out recklessness, telling Italian TV channel Rete 4, "Something must have happened." He described her as a disciplined diver who carefully weighed risks, noting she had survived the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami while diving off Kenya. "She had two lives - one on land and one in her environment, the water," he said, recalling her telling him, "This one I can do, you can't."
Diving at 50 metres exceeds the maximum depth recommended for recreational divers by most scuba certifying agencies. Depths beyond 40 metres are considered technical diving, requiring specialised training and equipment. The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is 30 metres (98ft), and experts warn that cave divers can easily become disoriented, especially when sediment clouds reduce visibility. Investigators are looking into why the group descended beyond the permitted depth.
The Italians were passengers aboard the 36-metre luxury yacht Duke of York, whose operating licence was suspended "indefinitely" on Saturday by the Maldivian ministry of tourism and civil aviation pending the investigation. A website link for the ship was not working, and the owner did not respond to requests for comment.
Greenpeace Italia paid tribute to Montefalcone as a passionate advocate for marine protection, mourning the loss of "her professionalism and her advice immensely" and recalling the "special light she had in her eyes" when speaking about the sea's wonders. The incident is the worst single diving accident in the Maldives, a nation of 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered across the Indian Ocean.