{"id":16522,"date":"2026-05-16T10:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T10:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/16522\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T10:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T10:28:13","slug":"maldives-divers-search-for-bodies-of-4-italians-in-an-underwater-cave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/16522\/","title":{"rendered":"Maldives divers search for bodies of 4 Italians in an underwater cave"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) \u2014 Divers in the Maldives searched Saturday for the bodies of four Italian divers believed to be deep inside an underwater cave<\/a>, after rough weather repeatedly hampered the effort the previous day.<\/p>\n

Maldives Presidential Spokesman Mohammed Hussain Shareef said that the searchers have prepared a plan based on their progress exploring the cave on Friday.<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s Foreign Ministry said earlier that the dive group are believed to have died while exploring a cave at a depth of about 50 meters (160 feet) in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani<\/a> said everything possible would be done to bring the victims home.<\/p>\n

His ministry said it was coordinating with Divers Alert Network, a specialist diving organization, to support recovery operations and the repatriation of the bodies. The cause of the deaths remains under investigation.<\/p>\n

The victims have been identified as Monica Montefalcone, an associate ecology professor at the University of Genoa; her daughter Giorgia Sommacal; marine biologist Federico Gualtieri; researcher Muriel Oddenino; and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, according to the Maldivian government.<\/p>\n

Benedetti\u2019s body was recovered on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Montefalcone and Oddenino were in the Maldives on an official scientific mission to monitor marine environments and study the effects of climate change on tropical biodiversity, the University of Genoa said in a statement Friday.<\/p>\n

It added, however, that the scuba diving activity during which the deadly accident occurred was not part of the planned research and was \u201cundertaken privately.\u201d<\/p>\n

It added that two other victims \u2014 student Sommacal and recent graduate Gualtieri \u2014 were not involved in the scientific mission.<\/p>\n

Cave diving<\/a> is a highly technical and dangerous activity that requires specialized training, equipment and strict safety protocols. Risks increase sharply in environments where divers cannot head straight up and at depth, particularly when conditions are poor. Experts say it\u2019s easy to become disoriented or lost inside caves, particularly as sediment clouds can sharply reduce visibility.<\/p>\n

Diving at 50 meters also exceeds the maximum depth recommended for recreational divers by most major established scuba certifying agencies, with depths beyond 40 meters considered technical diving and requiring specialized training and equipment. The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is 30 meters.<\/p>\n

Shareef said Benedetti\u2019s body was found near the mouth of the cave and authorities believed the remaining four had entered the cave.<\/p>\n

Two Italians \u2014 a deep-sea rescue expert and a cave diving expert \u2014 are expected to join the recovery effort, Shareef said.<\/p>\n

Italian officials said around 20 other Italians who were on the same expedition aboard a vessel named the \u201cDuke of York\u201d were safe. Italy\u2019s embassy in Colombo was providing assistance to those onboard and had contacted the Red Crescent<\/a>, which offered to deploy volunteers to help provide psychological aid.<\/p>\n

The Maldives tourism ministry said it has suspended the operating license of the \u201cDuke of York” pending an investigation.<\/p>\n

The Italian foreign ministry said the cave is divided into three large chambers connected by narrow passages. Recovery teams explored two of the three chambers on Friday, but the search was limited due to considerations over oxygen and decompression.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, they will explore the third chamber, the ministry added.<\/p>\n

Italian officials and the honorary consul are in contact with the victims\u2019 families to provide assistance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) \u2014 Divers in the Maldives searched Saturday for the bodies of four Italian divers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[469,12336,12113,12335,10899,12339,12341,5,12049,12333,12338,12340,12337,7352],"class_list":{"0":"post-16522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-italy","8":"tag-antonio-tajani","9":"tag-cave-diving","10":"tag-colombo","11":"tag-divers-alert-network","12":"tag-foreign-ministry","13":"tag-giorgia-sommacal","14":"tag-italian-foreign-minister","15":"tag-italy","16":"tag-maldives","17":"tag-mohammed-hussain-shareef","18":"tag-montefalcone","19":"tag-sri-lanka","20":"tag-underwater-cave","21":"tag-university-of-genoa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/italy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}