A Maldivian Coast Guard diver has died in the effort to recover the bodies of four Italian divers that officials believe are deep inside an underwater cave.
Five divers were killed in the scuba diving tragedy earlier this week, with only one victim’s body recovered so far.
Sergeant Major Mohamed Mahudhee became sick when the search resumed Saturday, 200 feet deep inside an underwater cave in Vaavu Atoll, Maldives President Dr Mohamed Muizzu confirmed.
His cause of death is underwater decompression sickness, officials said.
“His courage, sacrifice, and service to the nation will always be remembered. Our deepest condolences to his family and colleagues,” the military wrote on X.
“The tragedy goes to show the difficulty of the mission,” Maldives Presidential Spokesman Mohammed Hussain Shareef said.
“This is heartbreaking and unsettling news,” Muizzu wrote on X.
Mahudhee was one of eight divers on the recovery mission to find the bodies of Monica Montefalcone, a marine biology professor at the University of Genoa, and her 20-year-old daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, who vanished during the Thursday plunge.
Muriel Oddenino of Turin, Gianluca Benedetti of Padua, and Federico Gualtieri of Borgomanero also failed to resurface from the 160-foot dive into an underwater cave.
The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is just under 100 feet.
Only Benedetti’s body has been recovered, officials said.
The searchers had prepared a plan based on their progress exploring the cave on Friday before bad weather forced the mission to be called off early, Shareef said.
Recovery teams have already explored two of the cave’s three large chambers, with each connected by narrow passages, and are expected to enter the third chamber Saturday.
The Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, said everything possible would be done to bring the victims home and that his ministry was coordinating with the Divers Alert Network, a specialist diving organization.
The cause of the divers’ deaths is still under investigation, though some experts have theorized that oxygen toxicity and sheer panic are possible factors that led to the deaths of the five scuba divers.
But Montefalcone’s husband, Carlo Sommacal, raised concerns that “something must have happened down” in the cave, saying his wife, a professor at the University of Genoa, was too experienced a diver to have taken risks.
“The only certainty I have is that my wife is among the best divers on the face of the earth. And that she’s always been conscientious. Never would she have endangered the life of our daughter” or the others with them, he told La Repubblica on Friday.
“Something must have happened down there,” the retired scientist stated firmly.
“Maybe one went into trouble, maybe the oxygen cylinders, I have no idea. But I’m ready to swear anything about Monica’s behavior,” insisted the new widower.
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, but had embarked on the fatal excursion outside of their planned research, the University of Genoa said Friday.
The trip aboard the Duke of York yacht was “undertaken privately,” the school said.
Student Sommacal and recent graduate Gualtieri were not involved in the scientific mission, the university said.
Another student had joined the group, but opted to stay on the yacht while the others dived, officials said. Another 20 Italians were also onboard.
On Friday, the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation for the Republic of the Maldives announced that the Duke of York yacht has had its license suspended while the investigation continues.