A MALDIVIAN diver has died in the search for the bodies of four Italians who were killed in a fatal cave expedition.
Sergeant Major Mohammed Mahdi lost his life during the third day of recovery operations in Vaavu Atoll and was one of eight divers on the mission.
The Coast Guard member reportedly fell ill on the mission on Saturday and was rushed to hospital where died.
Announcing the news on X, the Maldivian military said: “His courage, sacrifice, and service to the nation will always be remembered. Our deepest condolences to his family and colleagues.”
Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said: “These painful days for itIaly are even worse after news that a courageous serviceman, Sergeant Mohammed Mahdi, died following an attempt to reach the bodies of our countrymen.
“This tragedy has united Italy and the Maldives in our sorrow and respect for the victims.”
The five Italian divers were exploring caves up to 200ft underwater in the Maldives on Thursday morning but failed to resurface.
It has since been announced that the Duke of York yacht, from which the diving group launched their expedition, has had its license suspended.
Concerned friends aboard the luxury vessel revealed that they alerted authorities around noon, but help did not arrive until nearly three hours later.
Four of the five divers were part of a University of Genoa research team – which included renowned marine biologist and professor Monica Montefalcone.
She was joined by her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, researcher Muriel Oddenino and marine biologist Federico Gualtieri.
The fifth member was boat captain and experienced diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, whose body was found alongside an empty oxygen tank at 6.15pm on Thursday evening.
A desperate search for the bodies has resumed after bad weather forced authorities to call off yesterday’s mission.
Italy’s foreign ministry said today: “Eight Maldivian divers are currently taking turns in the search operations.
“The first two divers have already gone underwater to locate and precisely mark the entrance to the series of caves where the Italian divers went missing.
“Six more divers will subsequently dive, in various shifts, to try to locate the bodies and bring them to the surface.”
Around 20 other people remained on the Duke of York while the expedition was underway, including students researchers and professors from the university.
One said: “We didn’t see them resurfacing. No balloon opened. That’s when we realized something was wrong and immediately raised the alarm.”
But despite alerting authorities immediately, it reportedly took rescuers about two and half hours to arrive.
One witness said: “The Maldives are huge, the atolls are very distant from each other, and rescuers arrive here by sea. It can take hours.”
Several tragic theories have emerged about how the highly experienced team could have succumb to such a fate.
Monica’s husband Carlo Sommacal believes that finding her body could reveal what went wrong.
He explained: “Monica usually had a GoPro when she went diving.”
“I don’t know if she had one the other day. If they find it, maybe from there we can understand what happened.”
Carlo has fiercely defended his wife and her team amid questions over the safety of their expedition.
He said his Monica was an “expert” who had done over 5,000 dives and “knows what to do even in times of difficulty”.
Carlo told La Repubblica daily: “She would never have put her daughter’s life or the lives of the other children at risk out of recklessness.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/16368974/divers-drown-maldives-cave-gopro-reveals-tragedy/
