Maldives divers mystery WILL be solved when police release their final report, say rescue specialists who found their bodies in 200ft deep cave

By OLIVIA ALLHUSEN, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 13:34, 23 May 2026 | Updated: 13:40, 23 May 2026 The mystery surrounding the deaths of five Italian divers inside a flooded Maldives cave may finally be solved when police release their final investigation report, rescue specialists who recovered the bodies have said. The group vanished while exploring the notorious Dhekunu Kandu cave system in the Vaavu Atoll earlier this month. Their bodies were later discovered 200ft deep inside the underwater cavern. Now Finnish rescue diver Sami Paakkarinen, part of the specialist Dan Europe recovery team sent to retrieve the victims, says evidence handed to police could help explain exactly what went wrong. Speaking to La Repubblica, Paakkarinen said investigators had been given extensive material gathered during the recovery mission and that authorities were now working to piece together the divers' final moments.  'Unfortunately, we can no longer speak to those divers and ask them why they went down there, so we can't know for sure what they were planning, why they went there,' he said. 'We've handed over a lot of material to the police, which is now being investigated. When the police conduct their investigations, we believe their report will answer most of the remaining questions.' Paakkarinen also suggested 'tragic human error' may have contributed to the disaster and raised questions about the equipment used by the group.  The mystery surrounding the deaths of five Italian divers inside a flooded Maldives cave may finally be solved when police release their final investigation report, rescue specialists who recovered the bodies have said The group vanished while exploring the notorious Dhekunu Kandu cave system in the Vaavu Atoll earlier this month. Pictured: A diver from Finland takes part in a recovery operation Their bodies were later discovered deep inside the underwater cavern Images published by Dan Europe show the narrow underwater passages where the divers' bodies were found, with light quickly fading into near-total darkness He said the divers had not been using specialist underwater caving gear despite venturing into the challenging cave system. 'The equipment we found them with wasn't optimal. They weren't using underwater caving gear,' he told the Italian newspaper. While he stressed it remained possible to complete dives to those depths using recreational equipment, he warned the combination of extreme depth and cave conditions would have left the group with very little margin for error. 'So I'd say yes, they could have surfaced safely, but they were short on time,' he said. The expert diver said he and his team would never attempt such a dive without a guide rope or scuba diving reel.  Four of the victims were found together in one section of the cave this week, while a fifth diver was discovered near the entrance days earlier.  Paakkarinen described the cavern as 'deep and very challenging', revealing it initially took rescue teams 50 minutes to reach the site before they adjusted ropes and moved equipment. Dan Europe said in its final mission report: 'They may not have been able to find their way back to the exit.'  It comes after the first photos from inside the doomed Maldives cave system where five Italian divers died were released by the team that recovered their bodies.  The group of divers set off to explore deep-sea caverns in the Vaavu Atoll last Thursday, but never resurfaced.  Sharing the pictures on Instagram, the diving organisation said: 'Natural light still filters through the entrance before the system descends into darkness' Your browser does not support iframes. For the first time, images published yesterday by diving organisation Dan Europe show the narrow underwater passages where the Italian divers perished, with light quickly fading into near-total darkness.  Clouds of disturbed coral sediment can also be seen hanging in the water, illustrating how visibility can rapidly disappear inside the cramped tunnels.  Sharing the pictures on social media, Dan Europe described how the series of images 'documents the more confined inner sections of the cave, where visibility can rapidly disappear due to disturbed coral sediment and navigation becomes more complex. 'These are the environments where the rescue team operated during the search [and] recovery mission over the past days.'  It added: 'Natural light still filters through the entrance before the system descends into darkness.'  The group of five who tragically lost their lives included Monica Montefalcone, a marine biology professor with many years of experience; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal; two young researchers, Federico Gualtieri and Muriel Oddenino; and their Maldives-based guide, Gianluca Benedetti.  Benedetti's body was found near the mouth of the Thinwana Kandu cave on the day the divers disappeared, while the remaining four bodies were located in the cavern's third and final chamber on Monday at a depth of around 165ft.  Mystery has clouded the tragedy, which has been called the worst diving incident in the island nation, as investigators try to determine how the group of experienced scuba divers met their fate.  It comes as the Finnish diving team, who recovered the bodies, suggested Thursday that the Italian divers may have taken the wrong tunnel on their way out of an underwater cave.  The Italian divers were found in a corridor with a dead-end inside the cave complex, La Repubblica reported. 'There was no way out from there,' Dan Europe's CEO, Laura Marroni, was quoted by La Repubblica as saying.  Images published by DAN Europe show the eerie underwater passages where visibility vanished as rescuers searched for the trapped group  Monica Montefalcone, 51, who died, was a respected marine biologist, TV personality and professor of Tropical Marine Ecology and Underwater Science at the University of Genoa Marroni said the cave near Alimatha begins with a large, very bright cavern with a sandy bottom. At the end of this room is a corridor where there is little light, but 'visibility, using artificial lighting, was excellent', she said.  The corridor is almost 100ft long and 10ft across and leads to a second chamber of the cave, which is a large, round space with no natural light. Between the corridor and the second chamber is a sandbank.  It is easy to get over the sandbank into the second chamber, but when you turn around to leave again, the bank almost looks like a wall, hiding the corridor, La Repubblica reported.  On the left of the sandbank is another corridor. 'The divers' bodies were all found inside, as if they had mistaken it for the right one,' Marroni told the paper.  If they had taken that corridor by mistake, 'then it would have been very difficult to return, especially with the limited air supply', Marroni said.  The divers were using standard tanks, meaning that, at that depth, they had very little time to visit the second cave, she said. 'We're talking about 10 minutes, maybe even less,' Marroni added.  'Realising that the path is the wrong one and having little air, perhaps after going back and forth, is terrifying. Then you breathe quickly, and the air supply decreases,' she said.  The Finnish team consisted of three divers: one tasked with recovering the bodies, the second with operational safety support, and the third documenting the recovery and dive site.  Montefalcone's daughter, Giorgia, is among the five divers who died  The 'highly trained' divers 'conducted an extensive reconnaissance with us, and developed a conservative dive plan, considering that no one knew the cave well', Marroni said.  'This type of operation always involves a great deal of responsibility, emotional toll, and a strong desire to return bodies to their families,' she said. The team recovered the bodies on Tuesday and Wednesday.  One of the divers, 54-year-old Patrik Gronqvist, told AFP by telephone that they 'had started to see some traces on the bottom, as if there had been some kind of activity', leading them to find all four bodies in a pitch-black hole in the cave.  'The bodies were here and there,' within an area of seven to 10ft, he said. 'Three were on the floor (of the cave) and one in the roof.'  Gronqvist said the mission had not been as 'technically challenging' as previous operations he has been involved in.  'But this operation was very sad... I will never forget it,' he said. The divers returned to the cave on Thursday to remove guide lines and operational equipment used inside the cave system during the recovery efforts.  'Much like at a crime scene, everything is documented, archived, and then cleaned up,' Marroni said.  Authorities in the Maldives are investigating how the Italians were allowed to descend to a depth of nearly 200ft, even though the country only allows a maximum depth of 98ft for tourists.  The Finnish divers recovered the technical equipment, including GoPro cameras worn by some of the group, which officials hope will give them a better understanding of how the tragedy unfolded.  It comes as the bodies of the last two divers - Sommacal and Oddenino - were retrieved on Wednesday, bringing recovery efforts to an end.  Montefalcone's husband, Carlo Sommacal, said in interviews to Italian media that his wife would never have put her daughter or others at risk.  He described her as 'one of the best divers in the world' who had carried out about 5,000 dives and was 'always conscientious' and 'never reckless'.  Researcher Muriel Oddenino's body was recovered from a deep-sea cave on Wednesday Gianluca Benedetti, 44, was a diving instructor. His body was the first to be found last week  Federico Gualtieri, 31, was a researcher and diver among the five who died in the Maldives last week  'I'm sorry, I wasn't there, and I'm no expert, and from what I'm seeing and reading, even the experts don't have definite answers but are merely making hypotheses – lots of them,' he told Reuters in a WhatsApp message.  He said last week that footage taken on a GoPro camera could reveal the mystery surrounding their deaths.  Authorities are probing whether the divers may have become disoriented due to bad weather and poor visibility on the day of the incident.  The divers were carrying 12-litre oxygen tanks, while Montefalcone was wearing a short diving suit - both unsuitable for the depths at which they were diving. Investigators are also looking into whether the divers were carrying flashlights and using the 'Ariadne's Thread' - a guide rope required for deep-sea cave expeditions. Among the theories that have emerged, the possibility that the divers were sucked into a cave by a strong 'freak' current is being considered.  According to the president of the Italian Society of Underwater and Hyperbaric Medicine, Alfonso Bolognini, the five divers might have been pulled into the crevice by a powerful current called the 'Venturi effect'.  This phenomenon occurs when flowing water enters a narrow choke point, forcing it to speed up, creating suction.  Italian authorities were Thursday arranging for the bodies of the divers to be repatriated so that they can carry out autopsies to determine the cause of death.  The Italian tour operator that managed the diving trip has denied authorising or being aware of the deep dive that violated local limits, its lawyer told newspaper Corriere della Sera on Saturday. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. 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