Diver dies during mission to find remains of tourists in Maldives. Operation remains ongoing

To date, the body of one of the victims has been found at the entrance to a labyrinthine underwater cave.

International cave divers have arrived in the Maldives to intensify the search for the remains of four Italians who died while diving in the waters of this paradisiacal destination, a day after a military rescuer lost his life in the recovery attempt.

Five Italians died on Thursday while exploring Vaavu atoll, prompting the launch of a multinational recovery mission.

So far, the body of one of the victims has been found at the entrance of a labyrinthine underwater cave, according to Maldivian government spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef.

Three Finnish divers from the Divers Alert Network (DAN), a global diving safety group, arrived in the Maldives on Sunday and worked out a new strategy with a fourth expert and the local coast guard, Shareef said. Specialist equipment is being supplied from the UK and Australia.

Authorities were evaluating this Monday morning whether weather conditions were safe to begin a third recovery mission.

Who are the victims?

The body of diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti was found at the entrance of the cave, leading authorities to believe that the other four Italians remain inside, Shareef said.

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

A sixth diver decided not to enter the water when the remaining group dived, authorities confirmed.

The group was carrying out a diving expedition aboard the vessel Duke of York, according to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Red Cross provided psychological first aid support to around 20 Italians who remained on board, with no immediate reports of injuries.

The attempt to recover the four missing bodies has already claimed another victim, highlighting the danger and complexity of the operation.

Senior military diver Sergeant Mohamed Mahudhee, 43, died on Saturday during a second recovery mission in the cave, which at its deepest point reaches 70 meters below the surface and extends for 200 meters.

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

Decompression sickness

Authorities believe Mahudhee, a member of the national defense forces, died from decompression sickness — caused by a rapid reduction in surrounding pressure, whether air or water.

Decompression sickness is most common in divers, but it can also occur in high-altitude or unpressurized air travel, according to Harvard Health.

Each dive on the Maldives recovery mission is limited to about three hours due to oxygen and decompression needs, Shareef said.

However, conditions are extremely difficult, with strong and unpredictable currents, narrow passages leading to a vast underwater chamber and total darkness, he added.

“You need to be an expert for this level of diving,” he said.

During Saturday’s operation, two divers marked the cave entrance with a balloon on the surface, allowing other teams to orient themselves and maximize their time inside.

Before returning to the surface, divers must remain in shallow water to decompress after ascent.

Authorities believe Mahudhee died from complications during this process.

“He was diving in pairs, as per protocol, and returned to the surface when his partner realized something was wrong and the rest of the team intervened to try to save him,” said Shareef.

Mahudhee was buried with military honors in a ceremony in the capital Malé, where thousands of people paid their respects, including President Mohamed Muizzu, tourism and military officials and foreign ambassadors.

The Maldives has extensive water safety protocols and experienced divers, Shareef highlighted, noting that the archipelago’s maritime territory is about 3,000 times larger than its land area.

Oxygen toxicity

John Volanthen, diving manager for the British Cave Rescue Council and involved in the rescue of Thailand’s youth football team in 2018, said it was not known whether currents played a role in the incident, but that the cave’s depth and sediment were “unequivocally” hampering recovery efforts.

“It’s essentially a long distance into the cave and normally cave divers leave a guide line to guide themselves. And it’s possible that this happened to the missing group,” he told CNN.

Panic can also affect divers, he said, with the risk increasing on deep dives due to narcosis — a temporary state of intoxication caused by breathing compressed air.

“This also makes it more likely that they are intoxicated or essentially unable to control themselves,” he added.

“As you descend, this effect can create panic and also make it difficult to find your way out.”

“And if the cave becomes filled with sediment, as is normal in this type of formation when the walls or bottom are touched, finding the exit becomes much more difficult.”

Carlo Sommacal, Montefalcone’s husband and Giorgia’s father, said he did not know what could have caused the accident, stating that “something must have happened down there”, taking into account the experience of his wife and daughter.

Speaking on Italian television, she described Montefalcone as a careful and disciplined diver who would never put her daughter or colleagues at risk, according to the Associated Press.

He also recalled that she sometimes told him, “I can do this, you can’t,” and that she survived the 2004 tsunami while diving off Kenya.

Questions about the legality of diving

An investigation is underway to determine what happened to the divers and whether they all reached such depths.

“In recreational and commercial diving, by law, no one can descend deeper than 30 meters and, unfortunately, this appears to have happened at a much greater depth, because even the cave entrance is almost 50 meters away,” said Shareef.

The vessel’s license has been suspended pending the investigation, according to the official, who stated: “Everything will be analyzed.”

The Italian tour operator managing the trip denied having authorized or being aware of the deep diving that violated local limits.

According to the lawyer for the Albatros Top Boat operator, he did not know that the group planned to descend below 30 meters.

The victims were experienced divers, but the equipment used was recreational diving and not technical equipment suitable for deep cave diving.

The company further clarified that it only sold the cruise and did not own the ship nor employ the crew, who were hired locally.

The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that everything will be done to recover the remains of the victims.

Italian connection

The Maldives depends heavily on tourism, receiving more than 2 million visitors in 2025, according to the tourism ministry, compared to a resident population of 500,000 inhabitants.

Italy-based dive operator George Corbin is credited with introducing tourism to the former British territory in 1972.

Since then, Italy has consistently been among the Maldives’ top tourist markets.

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

“Local people are devastated not only because this is the biggest diving accident ever in the country, but also because the victims are Italian.”

The governments of the Maldives and Italy have been in contact 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 ambassador to the country joined rescuers aboard a coast guard ship on Friday, according to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

CNN journalist Sharon Braithwaite contributed to this article.