Maldives, last two bodies of Italians recovered

Maldives presidential spokesman Mohameed Hussain Shareef told the Associated Press that the cave where five Italian divers lost their lives during a dive had been explored in the past by local experts and foreign divers. Today the last two bodies were recovered by three Finnish divers with the support of the Maldives coast guard and police. Shareef added that they will be taken to the morgue for identification.

"We will then coordinate with the Italia government and initiate the procedure for the repatriation of the bodies," he further said. He finally thanked the Finnish divers, praising them for their professionalism and leadership. Although the Italian divers had a permit, the authorities did not know, from their proposal, the exact location of the cave they were exploring, and at least two of the victims were not on the list of searchers that had been submitted, "so we did not know they were part of the expedition," Shareef pointed out, describing the conditions in the depths of the cave as "challenging", with difficult terrain, strong currents and poor visibility.

Mohamed Hussain Sharif, spokesman for the Maldives government, was quoted by the international media as saying that the first two bodies were found in the third chamber of the cave and that the police were transporting them to the morgue in the capital, Malé.

The three Finnish divers involved in the recovery operations for the bodies of the four Italians have handed over to the Maldivian police the GoPro cameras and various underwater equipment recovered inside the cave system where the divers' bodies were found. According to the Maldives Security Desk account on X, the material is being examined by Maldivian investigators, who are reconstructing the dynamics of the accident. The devices could provide key elements to clarify the final moments, including the route followed by the divers, the depth reached, visibility conditions and any technical difficulties.

The Rome Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating for manslaughter in connection with the death of five Italians in the Maldives during a dive. According to information, the prosecutors at Piazzale Clodio will order autopsies on the bodies as soon as they return to Italia. The investigators, who will delegate the task to the police, will also listen to the compatriots who were on board the safari boat 'Duke of York'.

"Yes, one of the bodies is Federico's, the other the teacher's Montefalcone". Confirming this to ANSA is lawyer Antonello Riccio, who with lawyer Gianluigi Dell'Acqua is assisting the parents of Federico Gualtieri, the 30-year-old from Omegna (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola) who died with four other divers during a dive in the Maldives. "We were contacted by the embassy to give us the news. Federico Gualtieri's family, although absolutely sad, expresses great satisfaction for the work of both the local authorities and Dan's team of experts. We also thank the Italian embassy, which has always been very cooperative'.

Federico Gualtieri's mother and father will not be leaving for the Maldives. "We talked about it and this time too we accepted the suggestion not to go". As for the return of the bodies, Riccio says: "We know that it will take a few days for the authorisations to return to Italia. If it took three or four days for Benedetti, I imagine it will take the same time for the others. It seems that an autopsy will not be performed there in the Maldives, we have to see if they will do it here'.

"I want to remember them smiling". This was said by Carlo Sommacal, husband of Monica Montefalcone, the UniGe lecturer who died together with her daughter Giorgia at the bottom of an underwater cave in the Vaanu atoll, in the Maldives. "I am devastated,' he added, 'I have just heard on TV that Monica and Chicco (Federico Gualtieri, ed.) have been found. Now I don't have the strength to say anything, I haven't slept for days, I have nightmares. I just have to try to resist, because there's my son Matteo who is 20 years old. What would happen?" Sommacal said he will not travel to Malé where they will presumably take the bodies. "I will wait for them here."

The Finnish team that is working in the Maldives to recover the four Italians would like to express 'our deepest condolences to the families of the victims. We are doing our part to bring them home. Special thanks go to the Italian Embassy, Dan Europe and the Maldivian authorities for supporting the team: this operation requires the work of dozens of people. Today two of the victims have been recovered from the cave and in the coming days we will continue the work to bring the others back. We ask for privacy and operational serenity during the operations. Thank you all for your support'. Thus Sami Paakkarinen, on behalf of the Finnish team.

The operation to recover the first two bodies, the organisation explains, "was conducted this morning by the team of tech & cave divers co-ordinated by DAN Europe, in close collaboration with the Maldives National Defence Force, the local police force and in constant contact with the Italian authorities present in Malé. In the course of the operation, the team again carried out a deep penetration dive inside the cave system using advanced equipment, including rebreathers, Dpv (underwater scooters) and redundant life support systems.

The Finnish recovery team, he continues, "successfully transported two of the victims from inside the cave to a depth of about 30 metres, where Maldivian recovery teams, working in co-ordinated groups at intermediate depths, completed the transfer to the surface. Once recovered, the victims were transferred with the utmost respect onto stretchers and subsequently boarded onto Coast Guard units'.

"Today's operation," emphasises Laura Marroni, CEO of Dan Europe, "required additional coordination, technical expertise and mutual trust between the team of divers and the Maldivian authorities locally managing the operation. We are grateful to everyone involved for the professionalism, humanity and respect shown during these operations. The organisation wishes to reiterate that 'ongoing operations and all related communication will continue to have two priorities: the safety of the operational team engaged in recovery activities and the utmost respect for the victims and their families'.

 Dan Europe's team of divers dived into the waters of Alimathà, in the Vaavu atoll, in the Maldives, to recover the bodies of the four Italians who never surfaced after their excursion last Thursday, 14 May 2026 in a cave 50 metres down (entrance at 47 metres). The team consists of three experienced Finnish cave divers: Sami Paakkarinen, Jenni Westerlund and Patrik Grönqvist.

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

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 rescue in 2018 of children trapped in a cave in Thailand.

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 arrived in Malpensa last night after a flight of over nine hours.

The survivors will be called to testify before the magistrates of Rome, who have opened an investigation file as did the local authorities, who have also analysed the mobile phones of the witnesses of the tragedy.

"Three of the five divers involved are mentioned as part of the search team". Saying this in an interview with Corriere della Sera is Mohamed Hussain Shareef, the spokesman for the president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, who shows a list in which 'other names also appear, but not Gianluca Benedetti and Giorgia Sommacal, daughter of the professor,' it says.

It is confirmed 'the existence of the permit, valid from 3 to 17 May, in six different atolls, including Vaavu.

The boat, Duke of York, and the equipment are correctly mentioned. Although we still do not know,' he notes, 'what equipment they had during the dive'.

Furthermore "this team's search, as confirmed by a document in February, is between 0 and 50 metres deep" and "we are still investigating how deep they have gone. The entrance to the cave is 47 metres'.

Shareef emphasises that they had 'the necessary permits'. As for the 30 metre limit, 'it applies to recreational diving. Researchers can propose to dive deeper and there is no specific law in the Maldives that prevents this'.

In this case, 'the main problem is that it was a cave dive and their research proposal, to my knowledge, did not mention this. They specified the atolls, but not the detail of the dive sites,' Shareef points out.

There are, he says, no legal problems 'because they have already dived many times in the Maldives'. But as a government they did not know 'that they would be cave diving'.

Shareef explained that the group had been conducting annual research in the Maldives for at least four years and had received the green light for a project on soft corals and reef systems. The critical point, he added, was that "the research proposal made no mention" of cave diving.

Damiano Francovigh, Italy's ambassador to Sri Lanka, who is also responsible for the Maldives, spoke in an interview published in Il Messaggero.

Francovigh met the team of Finnish divers specialising in extreme underwater recoveries, who will work with the Maldivian Coast Guard.

On the question of possible responsibility, Francovigh avoided assessments. "As Farnesina we do not enter a field that is not our responsibility," he said. "Our priority is to ensure that the bodies of our compatriots can be recovered safely and then transported to Italia."

As for the only body recovered so far, that of Gianluca Benedetti, the ambassador said he was not aware that an autopsy had been performed at the moment in the Maldives, "a country where autopsies are rarely performed".