The bodies of the last two of five Italian divers killed while diving in a deep underwater cave have been recovered, an Italian Foreign Ministry source said.
“The first one has already been lifted onto a support boat. The second is being brought up by a diver who is observing the decompression stops,” the source said yesterday.
Maldives government spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef, said: “Both two remaining divers have been recovered from the cave and have been brought to surface.”
The five Italians died on May 14 while diving at Vaavu atoll.
One body was recovered the same day and two more were recovered on Tuesday from a cave at a depth of 60m.
A Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF) rescuer also died from decompression complications on Saturday.
Italy started an international recovery effort after the death of the MNDF rescuer forced local authorities to suspend the search.
Italy’s University of Genoa said the divers included a marine biology professor, Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia and two young researchers.
Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Tuesday quoted the university as saying that “the scuba diving activity during which the accident occurred was not part of the activities envisaged by the scientific mission, but was carried out in a personal capacity”.
It said requests to the Maldivian authorities “were evidently made outside the scope of the mission authorised by the university”.
The Maldives does not allow tourists to dive deeper than 30m.
Maldivian authorities have suspended the operating licence of the boat the divers were using.
Tourism is a key source of revenue for the Maldives, a nation of 1,192 small coral islands and atolls scattered some 800km across the equator in the Indian Ocean.
Its beaches, clear waters and coral reefs attract divers and snorkellers from around the world.
Several fatalities have been reported in recent years, but diving and water sports-related accidents remain relatively rare. — AFP
