The three Finnish divers involved in the recovery operations of the bodies of the four Italians trapped in the cave handed over to the Maldivian police some GoPros and various diving equipment recovered inside the cavity system where the bodies were found. According to what was reported on X by the Maldives Security Desk account, the material is now being examined by investigators, who are reconstructing the dynamics of the accident.
The devices could provide key elements to clarify the last moments of the dive: the path followed by the divers, the depth reached, the visibility conditions and the possible presence of technical difficulties.
“Sucked in by the Venturi effect”
Meanwhile, a new hypothesis about the tragedy takes shape. The divers who died in the Maldives, according to the president of the Italian Society of Underwater and Hyperbaric Medicine, Alfonso Bolognini, were too experienced to improvise a visit to the caves without adequate preparation. For this reason, according to the expert, it is possible that the group had only carried out a visual inspection in view of a future exploration, but were sucked inside by a very strong current caused by the particular shape of the site: an underwater system with an entrance and an exit, capable of generating a “Venturi effect” at around 50 meters of depth.
“I’ve been thinking about it since yesterday, after learning about the conditions of the inspection by the Dan Europe divers,” Bolognini explained to Adnkronos. “They first sent a Rov, a remotely controlled underwater vehicle, to the entrance of the caves. They were unable to get it in due to the very strong currents and had to go in person. Hence the hypothesis, which today became more concrete when they sent me the diagram of the site with the three chambers, an entrance and an exit. A formidable Venturi effect is formed”, that is, an aspiration effect due to the narrowing of the space crossed by a fluid.
According to Bolognini, after the aspiration “two things could have happened: either everyone was sucked in, or one was sucked in and the others attempted a rescue.” A hypothesis which, in his opinion, would be supported by the great experience of the divers involved. “They were highly trained people. Monica Montefalcone had over 5,000 dives under her belt and all the certifications. Not to mention that she brought her daughter with her, so let’s imagine what kind of attention she paid.”
For the expert, the group may have been at the end of the dive. “They were there for the coral reef, the caves were not the objective. They probably decided to dive a little deeper to view the entrance, in view of a subsequent exploration. Instead they would have been sucked into a probably dark environment, with visibility also reduced to zero by finning, in a situation of great disorientation. It is possible that there was panic and that, in the desperate search for the way out, there was no air. In my opinion it is a rather reliable reconstruction of what was there success.”