Italy has been mourned by the death of five people, nationals, who died on Thursday in one of the deadliest diving accidents to have occurred in .
The group of Italian tourists was on a diving boat and was scuba diving in the Vaavo Atoll, which is about 90 minutes by speedboat from the capital Male. The divers were exploring underwater caves at a depth of about 50 to 60 meters. The alarm was raised on Thursday afternoon when the group did not return at the scheduled time, resulting in their disappearance.
Alongside the local authorities, the Prosecutor’s Office in Rome is to carry out its own investigation into the death of the five Italians. The prosecutors of the Eternal City are waiting for the detailed information that the Italian consular authorities are going to send and then they will decide in which direction exactly their investigation will move. Furthermore, the Italian embassy in Sri Lanka has undertaken the task of informing the families of the victims, as well as providing all necessary consular assistance.
The victims of the tragedy in the Maldives
The victims of the tragedy, according to a statement from the University of Genoa where they studied or worked, are 51-year-old Monica Montefalcone, a professor of Ecology and Marine Biology, her 23-year-old student daughter Georgia, as well as two of her 30-year-old students — a lecturer and a young researcher who had recently received his degree in marine biology. The fifth victim is their diving instructor, Gianluca Benedetti.
Monica Montefalcone was best known for her love of the sea and her scientific work, which focused on the effects of human activity and climate change on marine ecosystems, with particular emphasis on conservation and underwater cartography, and she had made several television appearances.
.
According to a new announcement by the local authorities in the Maldives, the body recovered by the frogmen is not that of the fifty-year-old teacher Monica Montefalcone but of the diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, forty-four years old.
The remaining four divers are believed to be trapped elsewhere in the same underwater cave, which stretches for more than 200 meters.
🚨 BREAKING: 5 Italian divers killed during a 160-foot cave dive in the near Vaavu Atoll.
⚠️ Rough weather reported
⚠️ Oxygen toxicity & entrapment being investigatedOne of the deadliest diving disasters in Maldivian history.
— Eyes on the Globe (@eyes_globe)
A gigantic undertaking under adverse conditions
The search for the remaining four bodies continued throughout the night and continues today. The Coast Guard and security forces are combing remote sea zones around the point of the disappearance. As Mohamed Amin, the Minister of Tourism of the Maldives, said, frogmen with great experience, who arrived today in the area, are now taking part in the operations of locating and retrieving.
However, the weather conditions in the area are very bad and the sea has been rough since yesterday at the Vaavos atoll, as a result of which a relevant warning has been issued for passenger ships and fishermen, as well as a “yellow” alert for dangerous weather phenomena.
Due to these conditions, the retrieval operation cannot be completed at this time and efforts may be postponed. Nevertheless, during the day a dive will probably take place, with the sole aim of precisely locating the entrance of the specific cave.
It is recalled that the Maldives archipelago is a particularly popular destination for luxury vacations and diving lovers, it consists of 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered about 800 kilometers along the equator in the Indian Ocean, known for its white sand beaches and secluded hotel complexes.
The scenarios for the causes
Local authorities are already conducting an investigation to clarify the exact circumstances under which the accident occurred. The first scenarios for the causes of the tragedy speak of:
- Bad weather conditions and sudden sea currents.
- Possible problems with the oxygen mixture in the tanks / cylinders.
- Sudden disorientation of divers inside the deep cave.
It is worth noting that although local regulation allows diving in the area to a depth of up to 30 meters, it is known that experienced professionals tend to go deeper.
