Italy’s foreign minister says divers found bodies of 4 Italians dead in Maldives sea cave

ROME (AP) — Italy’s Foreign Ministry stated Monday that rescuers have positioned the bodies of 4 Italian divers believed to be deep inside an underwater cave in a Maldive atoll.

The searches had been resumed on Monday after being suspended following the loss of life of an area navy diver throughout a deadly mission to attempt to attain them.

Five Italian divers are believed to have died whereas exploring a cave at a depth of about 50 meters (160 ft) in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday, in line with Italy’s Foreign Ministry. The leisure diving restrict in the Maldives is 30 meters (98 ft).

The physique of one Italian — a diving teacher — was found earlier exterior the cave.

Three Finnish divers, specialists in deep and cave diving had arrived in the Indian Ocean nation on Sunday to attract up a recent plan in the seek for the bodies of the opposite 4, who had been believed to be contained in the cave system.

The three Finnish divers, Maldives police and the navy carried out a mixed search on Monday throughout which they found the 4 bodies, stated Ahmed Shaam, a Maldives authorities spokesperson.

It was unclear if the divers went underneath water and noticed the bodies bodily or they noticed them by underwater drone cameras.

Shaam stated the searchers will now devise a plan to carry the bodies to the floor.

Maldives presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef stated earlier that the search was suspended after Mohamed Mahudhee, a member of the Maldivian National Defense Force, died of underwater decompression illness after being transferred to a hospital in the capital on Saturday.

Rough climate has repeatedly hampered rescue efforts.

Initial groups had already dived to determine and mark the doorway to the cave system the place the Italians disappeared. The trigger of the deaths stays underneath investigation.

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Mohamed Sharuhaaan contributed to this report from Male, Maldives