The president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, traveled this Friday (15) to Vaavu Atoll to monitor search operations following a diving accident that killed five Italian citizens.
Muizzu received information about the area’s underwater terrain before heading out to sea with Maldives Coast Guard Commander Mohamed Saleem and other officers in a speedboat.
The incident occurred at Vaavu Atoll, where the underwater at a depth of about 50 meters, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Thursday (14).
Local media reported that the five Italians entered the water on Thursday morning (14). The crew of the dive boat they were traveling on reported them missing when they failed to return to the surface.
Four of the divers were part of a team from the University of Genoa that included ecology professor Monica Montefalcone, her daughter and two researchers. The fifth victim was identified as an Italian diving instructor.
The reported that one of the bodies was found in a cave about 60 meters deep, and the other four are also believed to be there.
