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The search for the remaining bodies of the Italian divers who perished inside a deep underwater cave in the Maldives continued Tuesday, as officials described the recovery mission as “very challenging.”
The five Italians, who went missing on Thursday, were killed while diving near Alimathaa, a dive site, in Vaavu Atoll, as The Associated Press reported earlier and as Fox News Digital also reported.
Authorities have recovered three of the divers’ bodies — two on Tuesday, and one earlier. The other two bodies have been located but not yet recovered, the AP reported.
UNDERWATER TRAGEDY IN MALDIVES LEAVES FAMILIES SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS AFTER CAVE DEATHS
Mohamed Hussain Shareef, spokesperson for Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, told the AP the operation was especially dangerous because of the cave’s extreme depth.
“Number one, because of the depth. Number two, because of [the] actual terrain, because that specific channel has strong currents, strong downdrafts down toward — and the conditions down there, the visibility, for example, once you enter the cave, would be almost zero,” he said.
Shareef said the cave had been explored by both foreign divers and local experts before the tragedy.
The official confirmed that the Italian divers had permits to explore it, but authorities were not sure of the precise area of the cave they were diving in.
The bodies were found about 200 feet underwater — roughly twice the legal depth limit for recreational diving in the Maldives, according to the AP.
Shareef said at least two of the dead divers were not included on the expedition list submitted to authorities before the dive.
“[We] didn’t know they were part of the expedition,” he said. “Actually a very challenging dive, you know.”
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Maldives officials said the Finnish team assisting in the recovery operation located the bodies deep inside the cave, where all four victims were found “pretty much together,” the AP said.
The victims were identified as University of Genoa ecology professor Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, marine biologist Federico Gualtieri, researcher Muriel Oddenino, and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.
Vaavu Atoll is a chain of islands in the central Maldives, located southwest of Sri Lanka and India.
Authorities were alerted after the divers failed to surface by midday Thursday amid rough weather conditions, according to the AP.
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The cause of the deaths remains under investigation, though the group included experienced divers and marine researchers familiar with underwater exploration.
Carlo Sommacal, Montefalcone’s husband, told local newspaper La Repubblica that his wife “would never have put the life of our daughter or other kids at risk.”
“Something must have happened,” he said in a different interview with an Italian television station, per the AP.
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Stephen Sorace of Fox News Digital, as well as The Associated Press, contributed reporting.
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