Ex-military diver describes horrors Maldives scuba divers may have endured in cave’s third chamber

A former military diver has spoken about what the five divers who sadly passed away while cave diving in the Maldives may have experienced in the cave's third chamber.

Five Italian tourists died on Thursday (May 14) after they vanished in the waters of Vaavu Atoll.

Diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, Muriel Oddenino, and Federico Gualtieri, as well as University of Genova lecturer Monica Montefalcone and her 20-year-old daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, passed away after they failed to resurface from the dive.

Meanwhile, while searching for the bodies of the divers, Sergeant Major Mohammed Mahudhee also lost his life after coming into difficulties during the operation.

Benedetti, the instructor, was found in the entrance of the mouth of the Thinwana Kandu cave, while the rest of the group were found a few days later on Monday, deeper into the cave, at the bottom of the third chamber.

University of Genova lecturer Monica Montefalcone was amongst those present on the diving trip (University of Genova)

Her 20-year-old daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, also died during the dive (Instagram)

An operation is now underway to recover their bodies from the perilous section of cave.

The dangers of the Vaavu Atoll cave

An ex-military diver has spoken about the dangers of the third chamber and why the cave is so 'unforgiving'.

"I have visited those caves countless times. There is no current. They swam into that third cave. They chose to go in there," Shafraz Naeem claimed to the Daily Mail.

"I believe the instructor intentionally swam away from the group. Maybe he legged it up before he ran out of air. The rest of the group died in that third chamber and Benedetti died in the passageway trying to get out."

The incident is believed to be the worst single diving accident in the Maldives (Photo by Mohamed Afrah / AFP via Getty Images)

The cave in question is divided into three chambers, which are all connected via tight passages. At its opening, the cave is reported to be 47 metres in depth, which is deeper than the 30 metre limit in the Maldives.

However, Mohamed Hossain Shareef, a Maldivian government spokesperson told the BBC that Montefalcone's team had a permit for their scientific work, allowing them to descend to 50 metres.

'What we didn’t know was that it was cave diving'

He explained that they had permission to study coral, but no mention of a cave had been submitted.

“What we didn’t know was that it was cave diving,” Shareef said. “Because, as divers will tell you and appreciate, it’s a very different discipline with its own sets of challenges and risks involved, and particularly at that depth, there are any number of things that could have gone wrong.”

Diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti was among those who died (Albatros Top Boat)

Rescue diver Mohammed Mahudhee sadly died when trying to recover the bodies (MNDF)

Naeem explained he has never entered the third chamber, due to concerns over its dangers.

"The cave is unforgiving. It is closed, pitch-black and you can only see where you shine the light," he said.

"If something goes wrong, you cannot shoot up to the surface like you can in open dives. You are stopped and restricted, and, at that depth of below 55m [181ft], it is just completely dangerous."

A lawyer representing the tour operator in charge of the dive has explained that they deny authorising or being aware of the dive having breached the local limits in the Maldives, as per Corriere della Sera.

An investigation into exactly what happened is still ongoing.

UNILAD has reached out to Italian tour operator, Albatros Top Boat, for comment over Naeem's claims.

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