Five Italians Drown in Maldives Caves: Rescue Diver Dies During Search for Bodies

A rescue diver has died while searching for the bodies of a group of Italians who died in a scuba-diving accident in the Maldives.

According to Foreign Media, Staff Sgt. Mohamed Mahdhee was taken to hospital in critical condition and later succumbed to his injuries. 

Five Italians died while attempting to explore caves at a depth of around 50m (164ft) on Thursday. 

Foreign media reported that so far, the body of one of them is thought to have been recovered, in a cave at a depth of around 60m (197ft).

The incident is believed to be the worst single diving accident in the tiny Indian Ocean nation, a popular tourist destination because of its string of coral islands.

Four of the five divers were part of a University of Genoa research team, which included renowned marine biologist and professor Monica Montefalcone.

Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu travelled to Vaavu Atoll yesterday to observe the search operations.

The Maldives military has described the operation as very high risk, with unfavourable weather conditions.

The five entered the water at Vaavu Atoll on Thursday morning, local media said, and were reported missing when they failed to resurface later on.

Police said the weather was rough in the area, about 100km (62 miles) south of the capital, Male. A yellow warning was issued for passenger boats and fishermen.

Shareef said recreational scuba divers were only allowed to dive up to a depth of 30m and it was not clear why the Italians went into a cave that's 60m under water.

Italy's foreign ministry said earlier that another 20 Italian nationals aboard the Duke of York yacht, from which the five divers took off, were unharmed and receiving assistance from the Embassy of Italy in Colombo, Sri Lanka.