The tragedy of the Italian divers who died in the Maldives now opens a new front: that of the safety of recovery operations. According to the Maldives Independent, Sergeant Mohamed Mahudhee, who died while trying to reach the bodies left in the underwater cave of Devana Kandu, would have been sent to dive with normal compressed air, and not with technical mixtures such as trimix, considered standard for deep cave diving. On site, former military diver Shafraz Naeem reports, there wasn’t even a mobile hyperbaric chamber ready to intervene in case of emergency.
Mahudhee, 44, led an eight-man team from the Maldivian defense force involved in recovering the bodies of the Italian divers. During the operation he was found unconscious under water, then transferred to Malé, where he was declared dead. According to Naeem, who trained him, the problem was not the courage or ability of the military, but the lack of specific training for technical cave diving, a very different environment from an open-ocean recovery.
The difficulty of recovery
The cave, according to the reconstruction, has an entrance around 55 meters and a second chamber that can reach 70-78 meters. At those depths, normal air increases the risk of nitrogen narcosis and oxygen toxicity, two conditions that can cause confusion, loss of clarity and blackouts. For several Maldivian divers who spoke publicly, the operation should not have been authorized under those conditions.
Three super experts challenge the death cave to recover the bodies of Italian divers in the Maldives
However, the Maldivian government rejects the idea that there was political pressure after President Mohamed Muizzu’s visit to the search site. Meanwhile, the operation has been suspended pending the arrival of international specialists, including Finnish and Italian cave diving experts.
The body of Gianluca Benedetti has been recovered, while the others – Monica Montefalcone, professor at the University of Genoa, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, Muriel Oddenino, Federico Gualtieri – are still inside the cave. The University of Genoa clarified that the dive was not part of the official scientific mission. The Maldives Ministry of Tourism has suspended the operating license of the Duke of York vessel.
The tour operator who sold the cruise has already distanced himself through the lawyers: “We didn’t know they wanted to go below 30 metres, we would never have allowed it.” In fact, to do such deep dives, special permits from the maritime authorities are needed. According to the spokesperson of the president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu “three of the five divers involved are mentioned as part of the research team” with permission to dive “in six atolls from 3 to 17 May” but neither Gianluca Benedetti nor Giorgia Sommacal, the daughter of Professor Montefalcone, appear. According to what can be seen from the documents, the operations were authorized up to 50 meters deep. The main problem is that it was a cave dive and the research proposal made no mention of it.
The bodies of the divers identified
Meanwhile, the Farnesina has confirmed the identification of the bodies of the four Italian divers who were still missing: they are found in the third segment of the cave. If the body of Gianluca Benedetti had been recovered on the same day of the accident, last Thursday, those of Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, Federico Gualtieri and Muriel Oddenino were still missing. Today, three Finnish diving experts from the Dan Europe company joined the search operations of the Maldives Coast Guard. A remotely controlled underwater vehicle capable of diving deep and braving strong currents to inspect the site is at work.
The bodies of four missing divers has been located inside the Vaavu atoll cave on a joint search & recovery operation conducted by MNDF CG, @PoliceMv& a team of experts arranged by the Italian Government. Further dives to be carried out in the coming days to recover the bodies.
— Maldives National Defense Force (@MNDF_Official) May 18, 2026