![\"Rescue](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/00245e6d-614.jpg\"\/)
\nRescue teams in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives continue to search for the bodies<\/p>\n
Rescue teams in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives are searching for a second day for the bodies of four missing Italians following the country’s deadliest diving accident, officials said.<\/p>\n
Italy’s foreign ministry said last night that five citizens had died while diving, with Maldivian authorities recovering one body.<\/p>\n
Maldives Minister of Tourism Mohamed Ameen said coast guard officers and security forces were scouring remote seas around where the divers were reported missing yesterday afternoon.<\/p>\n
“I am deeply saddened by the tragic deep diving accident in Vaavu Atoll today,” Mr Ameen said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“The coastguard, and all relevant authorities, are actively engaged in the search and recovery operation.”<\/p>\n
The University of Genoa said the victims included a marine biology professor, her daughter and two young researchers.<\/p>\n
They were diving in Vaavu Atoll, about a 90-minute speedboat ride from the capital, Male.<\/p>\n
\nRescue teams in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives continue to search for the bodies<\/p>\n
The Maldives, a nation of 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered some 800km across the equator in the Indian Ocean, is a luxury holiday destination popular with divers, who often stay at secluded resorts or on dive boats.<\/p>\n
Maldivian authorities worked through the night despite bad weather, local officials said. The diver whose body was recovered has not been publicly identified.<\/p>\n
“I pray for the recovery of the missing individuals,” Mr Ameen added.<\/p>\n
The Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF), which is coordinating the search and rescue operation, said the first body was found in a cave at a depth of 60 metres.<\/p>\n
“It is believed that the remaining four divers are also inside the same cave,” the MNDF said.<\/p>\n
Local regulations allow dives to a maximum depth of 30 metres, but experienced professionals are known to go deeper.<\/p>\n
Police said the weather was rough in Vaavu Atoll yesterday and that there was a warning for passenger boats and fishermen.<\/p>\n
The Italians were on a live-aboard dive boat, and the alarm was raised when they failed to return as scheduled, police said.<\/p>\n
Diving and water-sport-related accidents are relatively rare in the South Asian nation, although several fatal incidents have been reported in recent years.<\/p>\n
Local media reports said at least 112 tourists had died in marine-related incidents in the archipelago over the past six years, including 42 in diving or snorkelling accidents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rescue teams in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives are searching for a second day for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-486716","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-latest-news","14":"tag-latestnews","15":"tag-main-news","16":"tag-mainnews","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-top-stories","19":"tag-topstories","20":"tag-world","21":"tag-world-news","22":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116580923926806796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}