Maldives military diver dies while trying to recover scuba diving victims in underwater cave: Officials

The bodies of four of the scuba diving victims remain missing.

Maldives military diver dies while trying to recover scuba diving victims in underwater cave: Officials

A Maldives military diver has died while working to recover the bodies of victims who died while scuba diving in an underwater wave, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.

Five Italian nationals, including a mother and her daughter, died while scuba diving in the deep underwater cave in the Maldives, according to Italian and Maldivian officials. The divers went missing Thursday while exploring a cave in Vaavu Atoll, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.

The body of one of the divers has since been recovered in a cave about 200 feet deep, authorities said. The remaining four divers are believed to be inside the 200-foot-long cave, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.

Panoramic view of Vaavu Atoll, near Keyodhoo, Maldives. Sergey Chips/Adobe Stock

Officials called the recovery effort a "very dangerous, high-risk operation." The search was suspended at one point on Friday due to bad weather, The Associated Press reported.

Maldivian presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef extended his "deepest condolences" to the people of Italy following the "tragic diving incident" in a statement on Friday. He said the search for the four remaining divers "remains our highest priority."

Aerial view of Fulidhoo island in the Vaavu atoll in the Maldives. Adobe Stock

Italy's Foreign Ministry said the five Italian nationals died "while attempting to explore caves at a depth of 50 meters."

The Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and the University of Genoa (UniGe) identified the deceased divers as Monica Montefalcone, a marine scientist and associate professor at UniGe; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, a UniGe biomedical engineering student; Muriel Oddenino, a UniGe research fellow; and marine biologist Federico Gualtieril, a recent UniGe graduate in marine biology and ecology.

The institute also identified one of the victims as diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.

Montefalcone had won multiple awards for her work to study and protect the marine environment, the institute said.

Monica Montefalcone one of the five Italian scuba divers who died near Alimathaa in the Maldives archipelago while exploring an underwater cave. Greenpeace via AP

Giorgia Sommacal, Federico Gualtieri and Muriel Oddenino. Facebook

The Italian ambassador from the embassy in Colombo arrived in the Maldives on Friday to meet with Maldives National Defence Force Coast Guard officials, the ministry said.

The Italian Embassy in Colombo is in contact with the victims' families and is providing assistance to 20 other Italian nationals aboard the Duke of Yoke who participated in the expedition, the ministry said.