New images show dark and challenging conditions of cave where five Italian divers died
Five Italian divers tragically died during a deep-sea cave exploration in Vaavu Atoll (Facebook/Instagram/University of Genoa)
Five Italian divers tragically died during a deep-sea cave exploration in Vaavu Atoll, Maldives, in what is believed to be the country’s deadliest diving accident.
The bodies of Gianluca Benedetti, Monica Montefalcone, Federico Gualtieri, Muriel Oddenino, and Giorgia Sommacal were recovered by a team including Finnish divers and DAN Europe.
Pictures released by DAN Europe show the challenging, dark conditions inside the cave system, where visibility could be lost due to disturbed coral sediment.
The CEO of DAN Europe suggested the divers might have accidentally taken a wrong turn into a dead-end passage, possibly misled by a rising sand bank creating an illusion of a wall.
Investigators have seized the divers’ computers and phones as part of an ongoing inquiry to determine the exact cause of the incident, with the bodies due to be returned to Italy.
