All evidence related to divers’ deaths handed over to the Police

All evidence recovered during the operation at Dhekunu Kandu dive site near V. Alimathaa where five Italian tourists died, has been handed over to the Maldives Police Service as the operation concludes.

According to Divers Alert Network (DAN) Europe, the final dive in the operation was conducted on Thursday. Despite a one-hour delay due to adverse weather conditions, including strong winds and currents, the team successfully completed a three-hour dive.

The objectives of Thursday’s dive included cleaning up the scene by removing temporary guide lines, operational references, and equipment that had been placed inside the cave system during the recovery phase. The mission also involved verifying and recovering additional items remaining at the site that could be relevant to the ongoing investigation.

“All recovered material, including equipment belonging to victims, rescuers, and previous operational teams, were handed over to the Maldivian Police and formally seized as part of the ongoing investigation,” DAN said.

The tragic incident which marks Maldives’ worst diving tragedy claimed the lives of six people in total.

The Five Italian tourists were reported missing at around 01:45 pm Thursday after going on a scuba diving trip to Dhekunu Kandu, a 200-meter-long underwater cave system located near V. Alimatha.

They were identified as Monica Montefalcone, a marine biology professor connected to the University of Genoa; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal; marine biologist Federico Gualtieri; researcher Muriel Oddenino; and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.

The body of Benedetti was found at around 06:13pm Thursday, from 60 meters underwater, inside the cave.

The MNDF had continued to conduct recovery dives, before suspending the mission on Saturday, after Coast Guard’s Sergeant First Class Mohamed Mahudhy died during one of the dives. The operation resumed on Monday with a team of three Finnish technical diving experts, one of whom is a cave diving specialist, led by DAN Europe. 

On the same day, the Finnish team located four bodies close together inside the innermost chamber of the cave, its deepest section at a depth of approximately 60 meters. Under Maldivian law, recreational diving is restricted to a maximum depth of 30 meters. 

Two bodies were recovered on Tuesday, followed by the remaining two on Wednesday.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, DAN Europe's CEO Laura Marroni provided insights into the ongoing investigation, suggesting that the divers likely became disoriented due to a mound of silt and sand within the cave.

According to the report, the divers were able to enter the cave by passing over a sandbank formed by swirling currents near the entrance. However, the perspective from inside the cave looking outward was reportedly significantly different. During their attempted return, the same sandbank would have appeared as a solid and impassable wall.

It is believed that this visual obstruction concealed the actual exit, causing the divers to mistakenly enter a separate smooth-floored corridor located to the left. The passage reportedly led to a dead end with no alternative exit.

Marroni further stated that the bodies of the divers were ultimately discovered within this misleading corridor.

DAN Europe expressed its gratitude to all parties involved in the successful completion of this mission and extended its deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this tragedy.