Search operation ends after recovery of remaining Italian divers
Five Italian nationals died in the incident, which occurred on Thursday during a dive near an underwater cave.
The bodies of the final two Italian divers who went missing during a cave diving expedition near Alimatha in Vaavu Atoll were recovered on Wednesday, concluding the search and recovery operation launched last week.
Five Italian nationals died in the incident, which occurred on Thursday during a dive near an underwater cave.
The deceased were identified as:
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Monica Montefalcone, 51, a professor at the University of Genoa
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Giorgia Somacal, 20, daughter of Monica Montefalcone
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Muriel Odenino, 31, a university researcher
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Federico Gualtieri, 31, a university researcher
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Gianluca Benedetti, 41, a diving instructor
The body of Benedetti was recovered on the day of the incident.
During the search operation for the remaining four divers, Mohamed Mahdy of the Maldives National Defence Force also died after suffering decompression sickness while participating in the recovery effort.
The location of the remaining divers was identified on Monday through a joint operation involving the MNDF, the Maldives Police Service and three Finnish specialists from DAN Europe.
The bodies of Montefalcone and Gualtieri were recovered on Tuesday.
Presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef said on Wednesday that the remaining two bodies had also been recovered.
According to Shareef:
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The recovery operation on Wednesday followed the same procedures used during Tuesday’s mission
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The bodies have been transported to the mortuary
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The operation will now move into the forensic investigation stage
The two bodies recovered on Wednesday were identified as Odenino and Somacal.
Shareef also thanked the DAN Europe team, divers from the MNDF and police, and local organisations Water Solutions and Foresight for assisting in the operation.
