The five divers who drowned during a diving expedition in the Maldives were mere minutes away from the surface when they died. The Italian divers, identified as Monica Montefalcone, 52, a marine biologist from the University of Genoa; her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, 20; researcher Muriel Oddenino, 31; recent graduate Federico Gualtieri, 31, and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti vanished on May 14, during a deep-water dive inside a cave 164 feet underwater in Vaavu Atoll.
Finnish diver Sami Paakkarinen, who was one of the rescuers, said that four of the corpses were “all together in one section of the cave”. He described the cavern as “deep and very challenging”. Speaking to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, he said “tragic human error” was believed to have caused the tragedy. He also added it was up to investigators to determine what exactly happened, and questioned why the divers were inside the cave “without the proper equipment”.
The location of the four bodies was identified on Monday when three expert Finnish cave divers, Paakkarinen, Jenni Westerlund and Patrik Grönqvist, from the Divers Alert Network (DAN) association, joined the search operation.
The group vanished on May 14, during a deep-water dive inside a cave 164 feet underwater in Vaavu Atoll. The body of diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti was found the day of the drowning, and was brought back to Italy on Tuesday. The bodies of the other victims were repatriated early Saturday.
Italian press agency ANSA said four the victims were linked to the University of Genoa. The university said the dive was not part of a research mission authorized by it but were carried out in a personal capacity, the agency also added.
The divers were reported missing by the crew of a diving vessel they were travelling on after failing to resurface at around 1.45pm. A search operation was launched by the Maldivian Coast Guard and the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF).
Italy’s foreign ministry confirmed the deaths but gave no further details on the cause of the incident. They added that an investigation is under way while the victims’ families have been contacted.