Maldives rescuers search for five drowned Italian divers

MALE, Maldives – Rescue teams in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives searched for a second day on May 15 for the bodies of four missing Italians following the country’s deadliest diving accident, officials said.

Italy’s foreign ministry said on the night of May 14 that five citizens had died while diving, with Maldivian authorities recovering one body.

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu said searching for the remaining four Italians “remains our highest priority”.

“We are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the deceased Italian, the missing four Italians and everyone affected,” Mr Muizzu said in a statement on social media.

Maldives Minister of Tourism Mohamed Ameen said coastguard officers and security forces were scouring remote seas around a deep cave where the divers were reported missing on the afternoon of May 14.

A dive by rescuers ended on May 15 without any trace of the missing Italians.

Government spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef said the authorities had marked out the search area and would resume when weather improves.

He said the victims were believed to be trapped inside a cave at a depth of about 60m.

“The weather is not ideal for diving, and we are facing very rough seas. We have deployed our largest Coast Guard vessel to the area, and Italian diplomats are also on site,” Mr Shareef told AFP.

He said tourists were not supposed to dive below 30m.

“There will be a separate investigation into how these divers went below the permitted depth, but our focus right now is on the search and rescue,” Mr Shareef said.

The University of Genoa said the victims included a marine biology professor, her daughter, and two young researchers.

They were diving in Vaavu Atoll, about a 90-minute speedboat ride from the capital, Male.

Police said the weather was rough in Vaavu Atoll on May 14 when they vanished, and that there was a warning for passenger boats and fishermen.

The low-lying Maldives, a nation of 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered some 800km across the equator in the Indian Ocean, is a luxury holiday destination popular with divers, who often stay at secluded resorts or on liveaboard dive boats.

The Italian diver whose body was recovered on May 14 has not been publicly identified.

The Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF), which is coordinating the operation, said the body was found in a cave at a depth of 60m.

The Italians were on a liveaboard dive boat, and the alarm was raised when they failed to return as scheduled, police said.

Diving and water-sport-related accidents are relatively rare in the South Asian nation, although several fatal incidents have been reported in recent years.

Local media reports said at least 112 tourists had died in marine-related incidents in the archipelago over the past six years, including 42 in diving or snorkelling accidents. AFP