Finnish divers recover bodies of two Italians from underwater cave in Maldives

Published on 19/05/2026 - 11:24 GMT+2

Finnish divers person recovered the bodies of 2 of the 4 remaining Italians who died heavy wrong an underwater cave successful an atoll successful the Maldives, an authoritative said connected Tuesday.

The bodies were located connected Monday, erstwhile searches resumed aft being suspended pursuing the decease of a section subject diver during a perilous ngo to effort to scope them.

Five Italian divers went missing connected Thursday, with 1 of the bodies recovered earlier. The program is to retrieve the remaining 2 bodies connected Wednesday.

The announcement that 2 bodies were recovered connected Tuesday was made by statesmanlike spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef.

Maldives authorities spokesperson Ahmed Shaam had earlier said that the 3 Finnish divers would retrieve the bodies, which were lying astatine a extent of astir 60 metres. The ineligible extent for recreational diving successful the Maldives is 30 metres.

The authorities of the Indian Ocean land federation connected Monday said that the bodies were spotted successful the innermost portion of the cave by the 3 Finnish diving experts, supported by the Maldives constabulary and the military.

“As was antecedently thought, the 4 bodies were recovered wrong the cave, not lone wrong the cave, but good wrong the cave into the 3rd conception of the cave, which is the largest part,” Shaam said.

He said that the 4 bodies were recovered “pretty overmuch together."

The Divers’ Alert Network Europe, which deployed the 3 Finnish divers, said connected its website that they are method and cave divers with planetary acquisition successful hunt and betterment missions, including operations successful “deep overhead environments, confined spaces and high-risk scenarios."

The squad utilized precocious method systems, including closed-circuit rebreathers, a strategy that recycles exhaled breathing state and removes c dioxide done a chemic scrubber, allowing for “significantly longer dives,” the organisation said.

The assemblage of a 5th Italian, a diving instructor, was recovered earlier extracurricular the cave connected the time they were reported missing.

The 5 were exploring a cave astatine a extent of astir 50 metres successful Vaavu Atoll connected Thursday, according to Italy’s Foreign Ministry.

Initial teams had already dived to place and people the entranceway to the cave strategy wherever the Italians disappeared.