Five Italian tourists who drowned during a cave dive in the Maldives were just minutes from the surface when tragedy struck, according to reports. The group, identified as Monica Montefalcone, 52, a marine biologist from the University of Genoa; her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, 20; researcher Muriel Oddenino, 31; recent graduate Federico Gualtieri, 31; and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, were believed to be around 15 minutes from the surface when they vanished. They were later found dead without proper equipment, as reported by the New York Post.
Search and Rescue Efforts
Maldivian rescue diver Staff Sgt Mohamed Mahdhee also tragically died while searching for the bodies. Maldivian presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Sharee stated that the cave is so deep that even with the best equipment, divers do not attempt to reach it. Finnish diver Sami Paakkarinen, who was involved in the recovery, said that "tragic human error" was a key factor in the May 14 horror, which saw the group die 200 feet below the surface. "Unfortunately, in most cave diving accidents, the main cause is always human error," he told the Sun.
Lack of Proper Equipment
Paakkarinen added that the group did not have the proper cave-diving equipment, including a diving reel or a guided rope. Four of the bodies were recovered together, while Gualtieri's body was found on the day of the drowning and was brought back to Italy. The other four victims were recovered on Monday.
Possible Causes of Death
Pulmonologist Claudio Micheletto told Italian outlet Adnkronos that it is likely "something went wrong with the tanks." Micheletto, director of pulmonology at the University Hospital of Verona, explained that death from oxygen toxicity, or hyperoxia, is one of the most dramatic deaths that can occur during a dive. Scuba divers breathe compressed air made up of 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen from a tank. To reduce the risk of decompression sickness, a higher-oxygen alternative called nitrox is widely used, but diving too deep with the mix may trigger oxygen toxicity. "When you breathe in too high a concentration of oxygen, the gas becomes toxic to the body," Micheletto said. "During the dive, dizziness, pain, altered consciousness and disorientation occur, making it impossible to surface."
Panic and Visibility Issues
Experts believe that the deaths may have also been linked to oxygen toxicity and panic. Alfonso Bolognini, president of the Italian Society of Underwater and Hyperbaric Medicine, said: "Inside a cave at a depth of 50 meters, all it takes is a problem for a diver or a panic attack for a diver. The agitation will cause the water to become cloudy and can impair visibility," which can lead to "fatal errors." He added: "It's not easy to say now what exactly may have happened at the bottom of the sea."
