The bodies of four remaining Italian divers were found Monday in the Maldives, four days after they went missing while exploring an underwater cave.
An elite team of three expert divers from Finland located the bodies of Monica Montefalcone, 52, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, 20, Muriel Oddenino, 31, and Federico Gualtieri, 31, Italy’s foreign ministry said.
The group was found inside Thinwana Kandu cave, also known as “shark cave,” by the squad, which was assembled in 48 hours by the group Divers Alert Network Europe.
The body of diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, 44, was recovered on Friday.
The causes of death for the five have not yet been established, Italy’s foreign ministry said.
A recovery mission to bring the bodies back to the surface will take place over the next few days, authorities said.
The elite diving trio comprised of Sami Paakkarinen, Jenni Westerlund, and Patrik Grönqvist, arrived in the Indian Ocean nation on Sunday to help local authorities with the search.
The divers, who previously took part in the successful rescue of a Thai soccer team in 2018, were called in after local authorities were unable to provide the necessary equipment to reach the depths of 500 feet required to enter the caves.
On Saturday, a Maldivian search diver, Sgt. Major Mohamed Mahudhee became the sixth victim of the Maldives’ worst-ever diving disaster when he died in his attempts to locate the missing tourists.
A further 20 other Italian tourists were on board the Duke of York yacht when it began its doomed mission to the diving location on Thursday.
They have all returned to Italy following the terrifying ordeal.
