The bodies of two Italian cave divers have been recovered from an underwater network in the Maldives, according to local officials.
The two were part of a group of five who died last week, with one of the bodies recovered outside the cave network on Friday. Efforts to recover the other four bodies were suspended over the weekend after a local military diver also died during the mission to reach them.
The bodies were found about 60 metres deep after search operations resumed following the death of the military diver during an earlier rescue attempt.
Earlier, the Maldives government spokesperson, Ahmed Shaam, said that the three divers would recover the bodies from a depth of about 60 metres (200 feet) and bring them to within 30 metres (nearly 100 feet) of the surface, where the Maldives coast guard would take over before handing them to police.
On Monday, the Maldives government said that three Finnish diving experts, assisted by police and military personnel, located the bodies in the deepest section of the cave.
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