A perilous search for the bodies of four Italian divers missing deep inside a Maldivian cave was halted Saturday after a military diver died during the mission.
Mohamed Mahdi, a member of the Maldivian National Defense Force, died from decompression sickness during the dangerous mission, Maldives presidential spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef said.
A group of five Italian divers vanished Thursday during what investigators say was an unauthorized deep dive that far exceeded the Maldives’ recreational diving limit.
The victims included marine researchers and experienced divers, among them Monica Montefalcone, an ecology professor at the University of Genoa; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal; marine biologist Federico Gualtieri; researcher Muriel Oddenino; and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, according to the Maldivian government.
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Gianluca Benedetti was found dead near the cave entrance shortly after the group disappeared. Authorities believe the bodies of the four remaining divers are trapped deep inside a cave system about 160 feet underwater near Vaavu Atoll.
The cause of the deaths remains under investigation.
Carlo Sommacal, Montefalcone’s husband and Giorgia’s father, expressed doubts over the accident, saying that "something must have happened down there" given his wife and daughter's extensive experience.
Speaking to Italian TV, he described Montefalcone as a careful and highly disciplined diver who would never put her daughter or other colleagues at risk.
Search crews say brutal underwater conditions, limited oxygen and the complexity of the cave system have made recovery efforts extremely dangerous.
"The death goes to show the difficulty of the mission," a government spokesman said after Mahdi’s death.
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The Italian Foreign Ministry said the cave system consists of three large chambers connected by narrow passages. Rescue teams explored two chambers Friday but were forced to stop because of decompression risks.
Officials are now awaiting the arrival of three Finnish cave-diving specialists to reassess the operation.
Albatros Top Boat, an Italian tour operator that managed the diving trip, denied authorizing the descent and said the divers appeared to be using standard recreational equipment instead of specialized gear required for technical cave diving, its lawyer told Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Saturday.
The Maldives Tourism Ministry has suspended the operating license of the expedition vessel involved in the trip as the investigation continues.
Experts warn cave diving is among the world’s most dangerous underwater activities, especially at extreme depths where visibility can disappear instantly and escape routes become limited.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
