Five Italian divers killed in cave dive in the Maldives

[jeff of pa]

 

[Digger54]

Cave diving is serious business. Did some cave diving in Okinawa for bugs in the late 80s. I had three rules I followed, daytime only, only if there was room to turn around, and not if I have to take my tank off and shove it through the hole first like a crazy friend of mine would do.

 

[Red-Coat]

Tragic. The video says “exploring caves about 155 feet below the surface”. The dive vessel MV Duke of York has had its operating licence suspended indefinitely while an inquiry is conducted into why the group went below the officially permitted depth of 98 feet (30 metres). The first body recovered was found at 196 feet.

Sadly, one of the recovery divers from the Maldivian National Defence Force has also died during the search for the Italian tourists.

 

[jeff of pa]

Yes I Was Wondering How Safe is it , Even For a Recovry Team

 

[Mackaydon]

The US Navy considers a dive below 180 feet as being 'dangerous'.
A dive to 196 feet on a single tank give you an extremely limited amount of bottom time before the diver must start to return to the surface while taking mandatory recompression stops.
I'll await hearing more--like: How experienced were the divers? Were they diving with more than one tank? Were they diving on 'mixed gases'? What was the plan to navigate in and out? What was their "Plan B" plan if something went wrong? Too many unanswered questions at this point. 'Rapture of the deep' is one possibility.
Don in SoCal

 

[Red-Coat]

Reportedly, those ‘leading’ the group were highly experienced, including diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti and Monica Montefalcone, a respected marine biologist, TV personality, and professor of Tropical Marine Ecology and Underwater Science at the University of Genoa. The experience of the others, including Monica’s 22-year-old daughter Giorgia is less clear.

However, the Italian tour operator that managed the trip has said that, although the victims were experienced divers, the equipment they were using appeared to be standard recreational gear rather than technical equipment suited for deep cave diving. The company, via its lawyer, denied authorizing or knowing about the deep dive that violated local limits, saying that the operator “did not know” the group planned to descend beyond 30 meters. Exceeding that threshold requires special permission from Maldivian maritime authorities and the tour operator “would have never allowed it.”

The weather was rough at the time of the dive, and one possibility being considered is that clouds of disturbed sediment may have reduced visibility to the extent that the group became disoriented while trying to find their way out of the cave system.

The diver from the recovery group deployed by the Maldivian military who died succumbed to decompression sickness after being transferred to hospital.

 

[Mackaydon]

The military recovery diver died from 'the bends'--a 'comedy' of errors.
The liability lawyers are salivating.
Don in SoCal

 

[jeff of pa]

a Place that Dangerious Should be Labled If you Go there
Your on your Own , Don't come Crying for Recovery !

 

[Digger54]

The US Navy considers a dive below 180 feet as being 'dangerous'.
A dive to 196 feet on a single tank give you an extremely limited amount of bottom time before the diver must start to return to the surface while taking mandatory recompression stops.
I'll await hearing more--like: How experienced were the divers? Were they diving with more than one tank? Were they diving on 'mixed gases'? What was the plan to navigate in and out? What was their "Plan B" plan if something went wrong? Too many unanswered questions at this point. 'Rapture of the deep' is one possibility.
Don in SoCal

Most of my deep dives were 130-140 with requisite safety stops where we fed fish sea urchins while we waited. Tried 170 once and did not like the buzz I got while down there. No way would I consider doing 196. I suspect someone is going to get burned big time on this one for negligence.

 

[newnan man]

A lot of people have died diving in caves here in the Florida springs. Usually it's inexperienced people who think they are qualified.

 

[Red-Coat]

The remaining four bodies have now been located (but not yet recovered) with the assistance of three expert Finnish divers from the non-profit Divers Alert Network.

The cave system has three main chambers connected by narrow passageways and the bodies were found in the third section, furthest from the entrance to the system, near which the first body (the diving instructor) was recovered.

The reported depth was around 60 meters, double the allowed depth without a special permit, and way beyond what the group were said to have planned as part of a coral sampling exercise at conventional scuba depths.

 

[jeff of pa]

FISH FOOD

Maldives diving accident: Recovery team's CEO speaks​

 

[jeff of pa]

Bodies Recovered ? From ‘Shark Cave’ in Maldives Diving Disaster​

May 18, 2026

The bodies of four remaining Italian divers were found Monday in the Maldives, four days after they went missing while exploring an underwater cave.An elite team of three expert divers from Finland located the bodies of Monica Montefalcone, 52, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, 20, Muriel Oddenino, 31, and Federico Gualtieri, 31, Italy’s foreign ministry said.

 

[opalboy]

I heard they were diving on gas, wrong mixture, too much oxygen.

 

[Mackaydon]

"They shouldn't have gone in": the man who trained Sergeant Mahudhee on the dive that killed him - Maldives Independent

Wrong gas, no recompression chamber, no specialist team on standby.

maldivesindependent.com

Don in SoCal

 

[jeff of pa]

 

[unclemac]

...didn't I read recently..."100% of the bodies on Mt. Everest were very motivated people at one time"....