Finnish divers have recovered the bodies of two of the four remaining Italian divers who died deep inside an underwater cave in the Maldives. The announcement was made Tuesday by presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef.
The bodies were located on Monday after searches resumed following the death of a local military diver during an earlier attempt. The remaining two bodies are expected to be recovered on Wednesday.
The three Finnish divers, deployed by the Divers’ Alert Network Europe, are experienced technical and cave divers specializing in high-risk search and recovery missions. They used advanced systems including closed-circuit rebreathers to reach depths of around 60 meters, well beyond the legal recreational diving limit of 30 meters.
The four bodies were found together in the third and largest segment of the cave. A fifth Italian diver, a diving instructor, was found earlier outside the cave. The group was exploring a cave at about 50 meters depth in Vaavu Atoll when they went missing.