Five Italians Killed in Maldives Cave Incident May Have Taken Wrong Tunnel, Says Recovery Firm CEO

Italian Divers Killed in Maldives Cave

Finnish divers working for DAN Europe found five Italian divers dead in a tunnel that led to a dead end inside an underwater cave complex. The company’s CEO Laura Marroni told Italy’s la Repubblica daily, “There was no way out from there.”

The deceased Italians were Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, marine biologist Federico Gualtieri, researcher Muriel Oddenino, and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti. A Maldivian military diver also died while searching for the missing Italians.

Montefalcone and Oddenino were in the Maldives on an official scientific mission to monitor marine environments and study climate change effects on tropical biodiversity.

The cave near Alimatha begins with a large, bright cavern with a sandy bottom, according to Marroni. At the end of this room is a corridor where there’s little light but excellent visibility when using artificial lighting. This nearly 30-meter-long corridor leads to a second chamber, which is also dark and has no natural light.

It’s easy to cross the sandbank into the second chamber, but it almost looks like a wall when turning around to leave again. On the left of the sandbank is another short corridor.

The divers’ bodies were found inside this tunnel, suggesting they mistakenly took the wrong path. With limited air supply at that depth, returning would have been difficult and terrifying.

According to Italy’s foreign ministry, 25 Italian tourists were on board the “Duke of York” yacht when the incident occurred. Authorities in the Maldives are investigating why the Italians descended to a depth of 60 meters, as the country allows only up to 30 meters for tourists.

Cave diving is highly technical and dangerous, with risks increasing sharply where divers cannot ascend quickly or at depth. Sediment clouds can severely reduce visibility, making it easy to become disoriented or lost.

Local officials called this incident the worst single diving accident in Maldives history. Diving-related accidents are rare in the nation, but several fatal incidents have occurred recently. At least 112 tourists died in marine-related incidents in the past six years, with 42 falling victim to diving or snorkeling accidents.