UPDATED 20 MAY: All 4 divers’ bodies recovered from inner chamber
The bodies of the four Italian scuba divers missing in the Maldives for the past four days have been located deep inside the Dhekunu Kandu cave system near Alimathaa island. The deep cave penetration, carried out by a team of Finnish rebreather divers, began at around 8.30am and lasted some three hours.
The three Finnish cave-divers had arrived in the Maldives’ Vaavu Atoll yesterday (17 May) and devoted the day to detailed preparations for this morning’s dive.
UPDATE 20 MAY: All 4 divers’ bodies recovered from inner chamber
All the bodies of the Italian divers have now been recovered. The final two, those of Prof Monica Montefalcone’s daughter Giorgia Sommacal and her research assistant Muriel Oddenino, were retrieved by the Finnish-led cave recovery team supported by Maldivian military divers this morning (20 May).
The bodies of Montefalcone and graduate Federico Gualtieri had been recovered yesterday. All four divers were reported to have been found close together 60m deep inside the third and innermost chamber of the cave system, which is also the largest and deepest segment.
The Finnish divers brought each of the bodies out and up to 30m, from where Maldivian divers took them to the surface. They were transferred onto stretchers and brought aboard Coast Guard vessels.
The initial finding of the bodies and the two approximately three-hour recovery dives went as planned. The operation had been staged over three days because of the combination of strong currents, poor visibility, narrow cave restrictions and decompression requirements.
A comprehensive logistical and medical support system had been set up at the surface, including an ambulance-boat and a constantly present hyperbaric doctor.
DNA confirmation with Interpol co-operation will now follow and all the bodies will be repatriated to Italy, as the forensic / investigative phase to determine exactly what happened on the fatal dive on 14 May begins.
“During this first operational intervention, the specialist team successfully explored the underwater cave system, assessed environmental and operational conditions, located all four victims still missing, and gathered the critical information required to plan the next phases of the recovery operation,” stated DAN Europe, which had mobilised the Finnish dive-team.
The search operation resumed today after being suspended following the death on 15 May of Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF) diver Sgt-Major Mohamed Mahudhee of decompression illness.
The Finnish divers – Sami Paakkarinen, Jenni Westerlund and Patrik Grönqvist – had formulated their dive-plan in co-ordination with the MNDF and the Italian authorities in the capital Malé.
The team used closed-circuit rebreathers, high-performance DPVs and fully redundant
life-support configurations to carry out the task while maintaining what DAN described as “exceptionally high operational safety margins”.
“The coming days will be dedicated to the highly delicate recovery procedures,” it stated.
The four divers whose bodies were located were Prof Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, research assistant Muriel Oddenino and graduate Federico Gualtieri. The body of liveaboard operations manager and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti had been recovered near the cave entrance on the day the group went missing.
Yet to be released are details of the exact locations of the four bodies within the cave system, the depth at which they were found, whether they were found together and whether equipment such as cameras or dive-computers has been recovered. Montefalcone always carried a GoPro, according to her husband.
Earlier recovery attempts by MNDF divers had reached as far as the second of three chambers in the 55-65m-deep cave system, so the Finnish-led operation is likely to have succeeded in penetrating as far as the third chamber.
DAN Europe said it had sought specialists in deep and cave-diving with recognised experience in complex underwater rescue and recovery operations. “The team made themselves available immediately, departing for the Maldives on short notice to join a high-risk operation,” it stated.
Paakkarinen and Westerlund both took part in the well-known 2014 Plura Cave mission in Norway, the subject of the film Diving Into The Unknown, as well as a prominent cave recovery mission in Mexico in 2014, while Grönqvist was also part of the Plura Cave mission.
“Today’s result is the outcome of extraordinary preparation, technical excellence and exceptional teamwork,” stated DAN Europe CEO Laura Marroni,
Also on Divernet: Finnish cave-divers reach Maldives on recovery mission, Five Italian divers die in Maldives cave disaster
Congratulations to the Finish divers, a job well done. If the Italian divers had used the same equipment used by the Finish team they would, in my opinion, still be alive today.
The Maldives authorities must carry out a very precise investigation into this tragic affair and release their findings so that the dive community can learn and act upon.
Additionally, the Italian divers would have needed appropriate training to do the deep cave dive, part of which would have included planning the mission and adhering to it!
In my opinion, the lessons have already been well known to the diving community for many years.
However, if they are not followed, a tragic outcome is a likelihood rather than a surprise. My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones, but to be honest, this horrific incident could and should have very easily have been avoided. I hope it doesn’t deter people from learning to dive, as it’s a wonderful activity if safe procedures are followed!
although the leader of the Finnish team, after the recovery of the last 2 bodies, remarked not being a hero and just a diver, the images they saw underwater will stay with them for the rest of their lives. sadly they have more from the past. not leaving anybody behind makes them heroes. they will also be repeatedly called as witnesses in the coming investigations.
a commendable choice they made when DAN’s Marroni called them. they should be invited by the president of Italy at the Quirinale and be personally thanked for what they did. respect to them and condolences to family and friends of the deceased
Yes, you are so correct. In the early 1970’s I helped recover the body of a young girl who drowned in a Marina. The image of her body lying on the muddy bed has never left me.
The Finnish divers have done a remarkable job and should be commended for their actions, now it’s time to delve into just what went wrong.
Very, very sad situation indeed. Sincere condolences to the family and friends of the Italian divers and the Maldivian rescue diver who died.
Respect to the Finnish search & recovery team on a difficult job well done.
You look at the picture of Grönqvist in the cave with rebreather, side-slung tanks, and all the accoutrements of a technical cave diver and compare with the rumored recreational setup of the Italians and you begin to understand why they didn’t come back. Break the laws of The Maldives, and of physics, and the results might be tragic…
Are underwater drones ever used in situations such as this?
I belive most that would operate underwater at that depth would be tethered for power and control. Ones that don’t would lose signal in caves and not withstand the currents. Ones with adequate tethers have the issue of getting the tether caught in cave systems and are bulkier. Plus the better drones or unmanned vehicles require support ships which take time to transit to the area.
In certain circumstances ROV’s could be used but and have been in the past, it all depends on the length of the umbilical cable. Remember you have the depth that the ROV needs to descend to and then the distance that the ROV has to travel inside the cave complex. In this case it would seem a cable length of up to 500m would be required.
It would be interesting to hear any comments from a ROV user’s or manufacturer’s.
Such kit is routine in offshore engineering but would take some mobilising with the mothership to get it to the incident. Not aware of any untethered kit that could work at those depths and precision in a cave without an umbilical.
UPDATE 19 MAY: Bodies of man and woman recovered
SEE UPDATE 23 MAY: Sandbank likely diverted ill-equipped divers to cave dead-end
3 divers? Three is the wrong number of divers. Just like the 5 Italians – basic error – someone else should have stayed on the boat.
3 divers of recovery team, not the italian who lost their lifes
Both 3 and 5 are the wrong number of divers. Should be 2 or 4. This is perhaps THE SINGLE most basic rule of diving. It is difficult to keep in sight and communication with 3. As soon as ANYTHING goes wrong with 1, 3, 5 or 7 divers all hell breaks out.
clueless comment. 3 is likely the most used and most established team size for technical diving. Would be good to measure your response intensity to your knowledge (i.e. pretty modest).