Bodies of two Italian divers recovered from Maldives cave

The bodies of two Italian divers who drowned in a scuba diving accident in the Maldives last week have been brought to the surface, local officials confirmed to the BBC.

“They were retrieved from the third chamber of the underwater cave by specialist divers from Finland after a two-hour operation,” Mohamed Hossain Shareef, a Maldivian government spokesperson, told the BBC.

The two bodies were being transported to the capital, Malé, for identification.

They were among five people who died in the accident. Two bodies remain inside the cave.

The first body of an Italian diver, a member of the group, was recovered shortly after Thursday’s accident near Vaavu Atoll. Italian media identified him as Gianluca Benedetti, a boat operations manager and diving instructor.

On Saturday, a Maldivian rescue diver died during the search for the remaining bodies.

Finnish divers located the four missing divers on Monday in the cave chamber farthest from the entrance. Known locally as “shark cave,” it reaches depths of up to 60 meters (197 feet).

The mission to recover the remaining two bodies will resume on Wednesday, and a Maldivian official expressed hope they would be retrieved the same day.

Finding the bodies will provide clues about the accident’s cause. The recovery operation has been described as complex due to the cave’s depth, limited space, and poor visibility. The cave entrance lies at 47 meters, with chambers at varying depths.

Weather conditions at the time of Thursday’s dive were described as rough, and a yellow warning had been issued for passenger boats and fishermen.

Four of the divers were part of a team from the University of Genoa, which told the BBC it did not authorize any deep-sea diving as part of its scientific research.

“The requests submitted to the Maldivian authorities…were evidently made outside the scope of the mission authorised by the University,” a spokesperson said.

A Maldivian government spokesperson told the BBC that the team had a permit to dive to 50 meters but had not mentioned the cave in their proposal.