A Maldivian diver has apparently died in the search for the bodies of five Italian tourists killed in a scuba excursion earlier this week, according to a report.
Sergeant Major Mohamed Mahudhee became sick during the third day of recovery operations in Vaavu Atoll, according to The Sun, which translated an X post by the Maldivian military.
Mahudhee was rushed to the hospital, but didn’t survive.
“His courage, sacrifice, and service to the nation will always be remembered. Our deepest condolences to his family and colleagues,” the military reportedly stated, according to the outlet.
Mahudhee was one of eight divers on the recovery mission to find the bodies of Monica Montefalcone, a marine biology professor at the University of Genoa, and her 20-year-old daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, who vanished during the Thursday plunge.
Muriel Oddenino of Turin, Gianluca Benedetti of Padua, and Federico Gualtieri of Borgomanero also failed to resurface from the 160-foot dive into an underwater cave.
Only Benedetti’s body has been recovered, officials said.
Search missions had been called off Friday because of bad weather.
The cause of the divers’ deaths is still under investigation, though some experts have theorized that oxygen toxicity and sheer panic are possible factors that led to the deaths of the five scuba divers.
But Montefalcone’s husband, Carlo Sommacal, raised concerns that “something must have happened down” in the cave, saying his wife, a professor at the University of Genoa, was too experienced a diver to have taken risks.
“The only certainty I have is that my wife is among the best divers on the face of the earth. And that she’s always been conscientious. Never would she have endangered the life of our daughter” or the others with them, he told La Repubblica on Friday.
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“Something must have happened down there,” the retired scientist stated firmly.
“Maybe one went into trouble, maybe the oxygen cylinders, I have no idea. But I’m ready to swear anything about Monica’s behavior,” insisted the new widower
On Friday, the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation for the Republic of the Maldives announced that the Duke of York yacht, from which the diving group launched their expedition, has had its license suspended while the investigation continues.
