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The Italian Foreign Ministry has issued a statement announcing that the Maldivian Coast Guard has begun dives to recover the bodies of the four missing Italian divers involved in Thursday’s incident.
According to the Farnesina, Minister Antonio Tajani is in contact with Italy’s ambassador in Colombo, Damiano Francovigh (who is also responsible for the Maldives), and the honorary consul in Malé, Giorgia Marazzi. They are on board the Coast Guard support vessel “Ghazee” to follow the recovery operations.
Eight Maldivian divers are currently taking turns in the water. The first two, ministry sources confirm, have already dived to pinpoint and clearly mark the entrance to the series of caves where the Italian divers disappeared. A further six divers will enter the water later, in several shifts, in an attempt to locate the bodies and bring them back to the surface.
So far only the body of Gianluca Benedetti, a professional from Padua, has been recovered and identified. On Friday severe weather forced rescuers to temporarily suspend the search for the other four missing people, who include a university lecturer and her daughter and two researchers.
Tajani has instructed that the recovery of the bodies be closely monitored and that assistance be provided to the families of the missing and to Italian nationals who now have to return home. At his request, the Maldivian police will make available a team set up to offer psychological support to the Italians involved. The “Duke of York”, the yacht hosting the 25 Italian tourists, including the five missing divers, has just reached the capital Malé.
The Rome prosecutor’s investigation into what happened
The Rome public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation to shed light on the causes of the incident and check compliance with safety regulations, bearing in mind that recreational dives in the archipelago are only allowed down to thirty metres. Going to greater depths requires special permits for scientific purposes, although the trip led by the professor coordinating the project does not appear to have been linked to her institutional activities.
The alarm was raised as soon as the group failed to return at the scheduled time after an hour-long dive, prompting witnesses on board to request the immediate intervention of the Crisis Unit.
Local authorities are examining several theories to explain how the accident unfolded, given that all the victims were highly experienced professionals with advanced diving certificates. Leading hypotheses include a fatal loss of orientation inside the cave caused by sand stirred up by the swell, the possible toxicity of the gases in the cylinders, or the dramatic scenario in which one of the divers became trapped and the others ran out of oxygen while trying to save them.
It also remains to be clarified whether the vital guide line, the so-called “Ariadne’s thread”, was used to ensure the way out, or whether a serious technical error occurred in the initial mixing of the breathing gas.