Body Search

Maldives, Finnish cave divers will dive on Monday. Trained up to 150 metres

Decisive hours for the recovery of the bodies of the missing Italian divers. Criticism of the Maldivian government for authorising the recovery operation down to 60 metres that claimed one victim

17 May 2026aggiornato alle 15;10

Shafraz Naeem, sub maldiviano e pioniere delle immersioni professionali, esperto nell'esplorazione delle grotte marine negli atolli delle Maldive con 30 anni di esperienza subacquea, Maldive, 16 maggio 2026. ANSA/Shafraz Naeem ANSA

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Dan Europe's team of three Finnish cave divers arrived in the Maldives this morning to take part in the search for the four Italian divers missing in the Vaavu Atoll. The divers, equipped with specialised technical equipment, are currently coordinating operations with the Maldives Coast Guard.

"The first dive will be tomorrow morning, weather permitting," Antonello Riccio, a lawyer who, together with his colleague Gianluigi Dell'Acqua, is assisting the family of Federico Gualtieri, the 30-year-old from Omegna (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola) among the victims, tells Ansa. 'Today,' says the lawyer, 'they only deal with work planning in cooperation with local units and the setting up of equipment'.

The mission was suspended yesterday following the death of Staff Sergeant Mohamed Mahudhy, one of the Maldivian forces' most experienced divers. The man died of decompression sickness.

The Maldivian government has been criticised in the country for authorising a recovery operation down to a depth of 60 metres, when Mndf soldiers are trained to dive to a maximum of 50 metres.

The only objective now is to recover the victims: Monica Montefalcone, Giorgia Sommacal, Muriel Oddenino and Federico Gualtieri. So far only one body has been recovered, that of Gianluca Benedetti, while the search for the other missing persons continues in the waters of the archipelago.

The Dan Europe team of experts

The search operations are coordinated by Italian rescue expert Dan Europe and the Finnish divers are highly experienced in cave diving having also participated in the 2018 rescue of children trapped in a cave in Thailand.

The priority is 'to find the bodies. And we have to do it quickly. Unfortunately in warm water, even if we don't know exactly what fauna is in the cave, we cannot exclude the risks of predators such as sharks or environmental impacts. During past recoveries, in Egypt for example, the worst happened. So every hour that passes is decisive,' explained Laura Marroni, vice president and CEO of the private foundation Dan Europe, in an interview with Repubblica and La Stampa.

The experienced Finnish cave divers, he adds, can reach a depth of 'over 150 metres. We are talking about some of the most competent people in the world for these operations'. Among the risks, there is 'poor visibility, made worse by the rising sediment. There is also the problem of the corridor that joins the first cavern to the second, which seems rather narrow, two and a half, three metres'. On site, moreover, 'there is little technical equipment to use. We also struggled to find helium. There is little there: the Maldives are not famous for deep dives or caves, so there is a lack of training or organisation for recoveries of this kind'.

The 20 Italians from Duke of York will return to Italia tonight

The 20 Italians who were on board the Duke of York together with the five divers who died during a dive in the Vaavu atoll in the Maldives will reportedly return to Malpensa in Italy tonight at around 8pm.

Inquiries

An investigation was opened by the Maldivian authorities, in particular the police and maritime safety bodies, into a possible violation of the 30-metre depth limit for diving. Following the initial investigations, the licence of the boat *Duke of York*, which was involved in the diving activity, was also revoked. An investigation was also opened by the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office.