Finnish Divers Recover Final Italian Bodies in Maldives

Four of the divers were linked to the University of Genoa, but the university said it had not approved any deep-sea dive as part of their research. A spokesperson said the requests sent to Maldivian authorities were made outside the official mission, and the dive was carried out in a private capacity. Officials added that at least two of the divers had not been on the official research list, so local authorities did not know they had joined the trip. A yellow weather warning was in force, and conditions inside the cave were called 'challenging,' with strong currents and poor visibility.

The recovery was carried out by technical divers from Divers' Alert Network Europe. They used closed-circuit rebreathers — systems that recycle exhaled gas and remove carbon dioxide chemically — to allow longer dives in the cave's narrow chambers. The mission had been paused after a Maldivian military diver, Mohamed Mahdi, died the previous Saturday during an earlier attempt; officials believe he died from decompression sickness. The bodies will now be sent back to Italy, while Maldivian authorities investigate whether the group took proper safety precautions before the dive.