{"id":588563,"date":"2026-05-17T06:45:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T06:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/588563\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T06:45:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T06:45:34","slug":"rescue-diver-dies-in-search-for-bodies-of-italians-in-maldives-cave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/588563\/","title":{"rendered":"Rescue diver dies in search for bodies of Italians in Maldives cave"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Maldivian military diver has died while searching for the bodies of four Italian divers believed to be deep inside an underwater cave. <\/p>\n

Mohamed Mahudhee, a member of the Maldivian National Defense Force, died of underwater decompression sickness after being transferred to a hospital in the capital, the Maldives presidential spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef said. <\/p>\n

He was involved in the search for four of five Italian divers who are believed to have died while exploring a cave at a depth of about 50 meters (160 feet) in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday, according to Italy\u2019s Foreign Ministry. <\/p>\n

The victims have been identified as Monica Montefalcone, an associate professor of ecology 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

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has said his ministry is doing everything possible to bring the other victims’ bodies home.<\/p>\n

Monica Montefalcone one of the five Italian scuba divers who died near Alimathaa in the Maldives. Credit: AP<\/p>\n

Mahudhee was buried with military honors in a funeral attended by President Mohamed Muzzu on Saturday evening. <\/p>\n

The diver was part of the group that had briefed Muizzu on the rescue plan when he visited the search site on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe death goes to show the difficulty of the mission,\u201d Shareef said. Rough weather has also repeatedly hampered rescue efforts.<\/p>\n

Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter <\/a>for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. <\/p>\n

The search has been suspended, and authorities are awaiting the arrival of three Finnish divers, experts in deep and cave diving, on Sunday, to rethink their search strategy, he said. <\/p>\n

Italy’s foreign ministry has been coordinating with Divers Alert Network, a specialist diving organisation, to support recovery operations and the repatriation of the bodies. <\/p>\n

The cause of the divers’ deaths remains under investigation.<\/p>\n

Divers prepare to search for the missing Italian divers Credit: Maldives President’s Media Division<\/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, student Sommacal and recent graduate Gualtieri, were not involved in the scientific mission.<\/p>\n

Cave diving is a highly technical and dangerous activity that requires specialised training, equipment and strict safety protocols.<\/p>\n

Risks increase sharply in environments where divers cannot head straight up and at depth, particularly when conditions are poor.<\/p>\n

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

A Maldivian coast guard boat and other vessels deployed to search for the four missing Italian divers. Credit: AP<\/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

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

Italian officials and the honorary consul are in contact with the victims\u2019 families to provide assistance.<\/p>\n

Reporting History sees journalists join News At Ten anchor Tom Bradby to revisit their remarkable on-the-day reports of the defining events of the modern age. Listen to the episodes below… <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Maldivian military diver has died while searching for the bodies of four Italian divers believed to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-588563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}