Finnish divers recover remaining 2 bodies of Italians from underwater
cave in Maldives
[May 20, 2026]
By MOHAMED SHARUHAAN and KRISHAN FRANCIS
MALE, Maldives (AP) — Divers on Wednesday recovered the last two bodies
of the four Italians who died deep inside an underwater cave in the
Maldives last week.
The Italian divers had been exploring the cave in Vaavu Atoll last
Thursday when they disappeared. The body of their Italian diving
instructor was recovered outside the cave, and the Finnish recovery
divers brought the bodies of two of the divers to the surface Tuesday.
Presidential spokesperson Mohameed Hussain Shareef said the last two
bodies were recovered by three Finnish divers supported by the Maldives
coastguard and police.
The bodies were taken to a morgue and were identified as Muriel Oddenino
and Giorgia Sommacal. On Tuesday Monica Montefalcone and Federico
Gualtieri were brought out, government spokesperson Ahmed Shaam said.
The instructor, Gianluca Benedetti, was found near the mouth of the cave
the day the divers disappeared.
“After that we will coordinate with the Italian government and start the
procedure to repatriate the bodies,” Shareef said. He thanked the
Finnish divers, praising them for their professionalism and leadership.
The four bodies had been located Monday at a depth of around 60 meters
(200 feet), twice the legal depth for recreational diving in the island
nation. The search had been temporarily suspended after a local military
diver died during a perilous retrieval attempt.
The Maldives government said the recovery divers spotted the bodies in
the cave’s innermost area. Shaam said the four bodies were found “pretty
much together.”
The cave has been explored in the past by local experts and foreign
divers, presidential spokesperson Shareef told The Associated Press
earlier.
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While the Italian divers had a permit, authorities didn’t know from
their proposal the exact location of the cave they were exploring,
and at least two of the dead were not on the list of researchers
that had been submitted, “so we didn’t know they were part of the
expedition,” Shareef said.
He described the conditions deep in the cave as “challenging” with
difficult terrain, strong currents and poor visibility.
He said an alert had also been issued due to bad weather, and
investigators must determine whether the divers took adequate
precautions.
The Divers’ Alert Network Europe, which deployed the Finnish divers,
described them as technical and cave divers with experience in
search and recovery missions, including operations in “deep overhead
environments, confined spaces and high-risk scenarios.”
The rescue team used closed-circuit rebreathers, a system that
recycles exhaled breathing gas and removes carbon dioxide through a
chemical scrubber, allowing for “significantly longer dives,” the
organization said.
The cause of death of the Maldivian military diver was still under
investigation, but colleagues have suggested he may have died from
nitrogen narcosis or decompression at depth.
___
Francis reported from Colombo, Sri Lanka.
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