THE heartbroken husband of an Italian tourist who died during a cave dive in the Maldives has said “something must have happened down there”.
Expert teams have now recovered the first two of four bodies located deep inside Thinwana Kandu cave, also known as “shark cave”, on Monday.
Sign up for The Jattvibe newsletter
Thank you!
Monica Montefalcone’s husband has described her as an ‘expert diver’ who would never put her daughter at risk Credit: UGC/UNPIXS
Carlo’s daughter Giorgia Sommacal also perished in the tragedy Credit: UGC/UNPIXS
Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, Muriel Oddenino, and Federico Gualtieri were discovered by elite divers after disappearing on Thursday morning.
The group were accompanied by instructor Gianluca Benedetti who was found last week.
Monica’s husband and Giorgia’s father, Carlo Sommacal, said: “The only certainty I have is that my wife is among the best divers on the face of the earth.”
In an interview with Repubblica, a grieving Carlo said his wife “would never have put our daughter’s life at risk”.
DEEP TASK
First bodies recovered in complex ‘shark cave’ mission – as tragedy gets murkier
RISKY MISSION
Why Maldives tragedy is FAR from over as search turns to ‘complex’ recovery
A unit of elite divers have recovered two of the four bodies Credit: Reuters
The crew will resume the mission on Wednesday to recover the two remaining bodies Credit: Reuters
He said: “If there really was a yellow alert, they would have dived first and something must have happened down there.
“Maybe one of them ran into trouble, maybe the oxygen tanks, I have no idea. But I’m ready to swear anything about Monica’s behavior.”
Carlo said he was “devastated” by the tragedy, but wants to remember his wife and daughter “smiling”.
As the operation to recover the bodies continues, Carlo noted how his wife would often dive with a GoPro. If located, he believes this could help figure out what happened.
Muriel Oddenino, one of the five Italian divers, was found on Monday Credit: UGC/UNPIXS
Federico Gualtieri is also expected to be recovered in the mission Credit: UGC/UNPIXS
Giorgia’s boyfriend Federico Colombo said her loss has taught him “nothing in life can be taken for granted”.
It comes as the Rome Prosecutor’s Office has launched a manslaughter probe into the divers’ deaths.
Two remaining bodies are expected to be recovered in a second operation on Wednesday.
Three elite Finnish divers have been dispatched by DAN Europe to recover the bodies from the mouth of the Alimatha cave complex.
Coast Guard boats deployed during the operation to recover the bodies Credit: Reuters
Gianluca Benedetti’s body was found last weekend Credit: UGC/UNPIXS
Sami Paakkarinen, Jenni Westerlund, and Patrik Grönqvist, have worked on some of the world’s most difficult missions.
Each attempt to dive and retrieve the bodies lasts about three hours – and it is immediately aborted if any obstacles are encountered.
Perilous local search efforts were hampered by bad weather over the weekend.
A Maldivian military rescue diver Mohamed Mahudhee died from decompression illness on Saturday – highlighting the mission’s extreme danger and bringing the total death toll to six.
It comes as mystery continues to swirl around the tragedy that now marks one of the worst single diving accidents in the nation’s history.
The group, who were on a university research trip, went missing while exploring a cave at a depth of about 160ft on Thursday morning.
The Italian foreign ministry said causes of death had not yet been established.
It has been revealed that the Duke of York yacht, from which the group launched the expedition, did not have a permit allowing dives of more than 100ft.
A haunting video shows inside the murky cave
The Italian tour operator that managed the diving trip denied authorising or knowing about the expedition that exceeded local limits, its lawyer told Corriere della Sera on Saturday.
In another twist, a sixth diver understood to be a female student from the university, had reportedly been preparing to dive with the group but decided at the last moment not to enter the water. She has been helping with the investigation.
Maldivian authorities are investigating multiple possible factors behind the tragedy.
A former military diver claimed that “rules were broken” in the high-risk cave – questioning why the group were allowed on the mission in the first place.
Shafraz Naeem, a Maldivian diving veteran who has explored the Devana Kandu cave system over 30 times, said the entrance to the cave is about 55 metres deep.
“It is incredibly dangerous to conduct dives at these depths on compressed air,” Naeem said.
He believes the instructor “intentionally swam away” from the group.
He told the Daily Mail: “Maybe he legged it up before he ran out of air. The rest of the group died in that third chamber and Benedetti died in the passageway trying to get out.”
Experts say that as a diver goes deeper, the pressure around them rises and oxygen can begin to damage body tissue.
But Riccardo Gambacorta, former diving instructor of Oddenino, does not believe the Italians died of oxygen intoxication.
He said: “My personal opinion is that an unexpected incident may have occurred underwater. They essentially did not anticipate a certain situation.”
