2 Italian divers recovered from fatal Vaavu cave diving incident

Authorities on Tuesday recovered the bodies of two of the four Italian divers who went missing while exploring an underwater cave near V. Alimatha.

The incident occurred last Thursday during a diving excursion involving five Italian nationals. One body was recovered on the day of the incident, while the locations of the remaining four divers were confirmed on Monday.

Providing an update on the operation, Mohamed Hussain Shareef, spokesperson at the President's Office, said two bodies were recovered on Tuesday.

According to Shareef, the recovered bodies were identified as one male and one female.

He stated that foreign diving experts involved in the operation carried out the recovery from inside the cave. Divers from the Maldives National Defence Force then took over the operation from a depth of 30 metres, while divers from the Maldives Police Service assisted in bringing the bodies onto the vessel from a depth of seven metres.

“The operation is proceeding as planned. Efforts to recover the remaining two bodies will continue tomorrow,” Shareef said.

He added that work was continuing to confirm the identities of the two recovered individuals.

The four divers initially reported missing included one male and three females.

Authorities previously identified the victims involved in the incident as:

In a separate incident linked to the recovery mission, Staff Sergeant Mohamed Mahdy of the MNDF died on Saturday after developing decompression sickness during the operation.