Tragic details of the fatal Maldives scuba diving expedition have shown that there could have been a sixth death
The tragic deaths of five scuba divers in the Maldives has spawned numerous questions about what took place hundreds of feet under the Indian Ocean, with more details emerging about the ill-fated expedition.
Authorities in the South Asian archipelago are carrying out a high-risk underwater rescue operation today (Friday, May 15), after a body was recovered from the five-person expedition the day before.
Official statements indicate that the five Italian nationals, marine biologist Monica Montefalcone, 51, daughter Giorgia Sommacal, 22, Muriel Oddenino from Turin, Gianluca Benedetti from Padua, and Federico Gualtieri from Omegna, all died while exploring a cave system.
But while families across Italy grapple with the shocking news of the mass death event, it has emerged that their dive team was originally meant to have six members descending to Vaavu Atoll on Thursday.
This network of complicated underwater terrain begins around 160 feet under the ocean’s surface, which local dive centers describe as a ‘honeycomb of caves’ with large overhangs.
But just before the dive team set off for the atoll, one woman, an unnamed University of Genoa student, decided to stay back on their yacht, the Duke of York, narrowly avoiding the tragic fate that befell her crew mates.
The Daily Mail reports that this unnamed student has since returned to Italy, though it remains unclear why she decided to stay back. This is just one of the details about this fatal expedition that remains unclear as authorities try to figure out what happened.
Yesterday, rescue teams were able to recover one body from a cave roughly 200 feet below the surface, but their search failed to locate the rest of the dive team, who are believed to be in the same cave.
The Maldives’ National Defence Force are carrying out further searches today, but have faced rough conditions – not dissimilar to those faced by the Italian divers on Thursday, with initial reports indicating that there was a weather warning in place.
However, the bereaved husband of one of those who died on Vaavu Atoll, Carlo Sommaca, told La Repubblica that his wife, Monica Montefalcone, was an experienced diver. She was also a respected marine biologist, TV presence, and professor at the University of Genoa.
The search for the remaining four divers has been hampered by poor weather conditions
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