The first photos from inside the doomed Maldives cave system where five Italian divers died have now been released by the team that recovered their bodies.
Images published by Dan Europe show the eerie underwater passages where visibility reportedly vanished as rescuers searched for the trapped group more than 60 metres below the surface.
Sharing the pictures on Instagram, the diving organisation said: ‘Natural light still filters through the entrance before the system descends into darkness’.
The bodies of Monica Montefalcone, 52, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, 20, Muriel Oddenino, 31, and Federico Gualtieri, 31, were found near the mouth of the third and final chamber of the caves in the Vaavu Atoll, at a depth of around 50 metres.
The body of diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti was found near the mouth of the Thinwana Kandu cave on the day the divers disappeared.
Mystery has clouded the tragedy, which has been called the worst diving incident in the island nation, as investigators try to determine how the group of experienced scuba divers met their fate.
Expert divers who recovered the bodies this week, has suggested the group may have taken the wrong tunnel on their way out of an underwater cave.
The first photos from inside the doomed Maldives cave system where five Italian divers died have now been released by the organisation involved in the expedition
Images published by DAN Europe show the eerie underwater passages where visibility reportedly vanished as rescuers searched for the trapped group more than 60 metres below the surface
Sharing the pictures on Instagram , the diving organisation said: ‘Natural light still filters through the entrance before the system descends into darkness’
The bodies of Monica Montefalcone, 52, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, 20, Muriel Oddenino, 31, and Federico Gualtieri, 31, were found on Monday near the mouth of the third and final chamber of the caves in the Vaavu Atoll, at a depth of around 50 metres
The pro-divers, working for Dan Europe found the Italians in a corridor with a dead end inside the cave complex, Italy’s daily newspaper La Repubblica reported.
‘There was no way out from there,’ the company’s CEO, Laura Marroni, was quoted by La Repubblica as saying.
The group of five included Monica Montefalcone, a marine biology professor with many years of experience; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal; two young researchers, Federico Gualtieri and Muriel Oddenino; and their Maldives-based guide, Benedetti.
The Finnish divers found the cave near Alimatha begins with a first large, very bright cavern with a sandy bottom, Marroni told the newspaper.
At the end of this room is a corridor where there is little light, but ‘visibility, using artificial lighting, was excellent’, she said.
The corridor is almost 30 metres long and three metres across and leads to a second chamber of the cave, which is a large, round space with no natural light.
Between the corridor and the second chamber is a sandbank.
It is easy to get over the sandbank into the second chamber, but when you turn around to leave again, the bank almost looks like a wall, hiding the corridor, La Repubblica reported.
On the left of the sandbank is another corridor – only a few dozen metres long.
‘The divers’ bodies were all found inside, as if they had mistaken it for the right one,’ Marroni told the paper.
If they had taken that corridor by mistake, ‘then it would have been very difficult to return, especially with the limited air supply’, Marroni said.
The divers were using standard tanks, meaning that, at that depth, they had very little time to visit the second cave, she said.
Monica Montefalcone, 51, who died, was a respected marine biologist, TV personality and professor of Tropical Marine Ecology and Underwater Science at the University of Genoa
‘We’re talking about 10 minutes, maybe even less,’ Marroni added.
‘Realising that the path is the wrong one and having little air, perhaps after going back and forth, is terrifying. Then you breathe quickly, and the air supply decreases,’ she said.
The Finnish team was made up of three divers: one tasked with recovering the bodies, the second with operational safety support, and the third documenting the recovery and dive site.
The divers ‘are highly trained’ and ‘conducted an extensive reconnaissance with us, and developed a conservative dive plan, considering that no one knew the cave well’, Marroni said.
‘This type of operation always involves a great deal of responsibility, emotional toll, and a strong desire to return bodies to their families,’ she said.
The team recovered the bodies on Tuesday and Wednesday.
This is a breaking news story, more to follow.
