Expert reveals why cave diving is considered one of the most dangerous activities following Maldives tragedy

A travel expert has explained that there's 'no room for errors' when it comes to cave diving following the deaths of five Italian tourists in the Maldives.

News broke last week that a group Italian nationals had died in a scuba diving accident, the youngest being 20-year-old Giorgia Sommacal.

Muriel Oddenino, Federico Gualtieri, Gianluca Benedetti, and Giorgia's mother, Monica Montefalcone, were the other victims.

All five of the bodies have now been recovered following the heartbreaking ordeal that took place in Vaavu Atoll. They had been attempting to explore caves at a depth of 50m (164ft).

Tragically a sixth person – a diver who was a member of the Maldivian national defence force – died as well as a result of the recovery efforts. They have been named as Mohamed Hussain Shareef.

Mohamed Hussain Shareef, a military diver, died in the rescue efforts (Twitter/@MNDF_Official)

It is not immediately known how the tragedy unfolded, but there are hopes that a missing GoPro that was owned by one of the tourists could shed some light on it all.

Following lat weeks's incident, Alex Andreichuk, CEO of Altezza Travel, explained that cave diving is seen as one of the most dangerous activities you can do on vacation.

He told Mail Online: "The most dangerous activities are those where nature leaves no room for errors.

"Cave diving, in particular, is among the most dangerous activities, as even the smallest panic movement can lead to very low visibility, quickly leaving the diver disoriented and making panic decisions."

Andreichuk believes that social media could be partially to blame for the increased interest in trying out things like cave diving, even if holiday-goers have no experience.

"Unfortunately, we're seeing more people getting inspired by the content they see on social media and believing they can do the same with little to no preparation," he said.

The group of Italians were cave diving in Vaavu Atoll (Getty Stock Image)

Andreichuk went on: "Examples like travellers accessing difficult sea caves in flip flops, climbing unstable coastal cliffs, or waterfalls for selfies are just a few of the 'trying your luck' activities that have enormous potential to go wrong. While most people come back with a good story, some never make it back at all.

"The main issue is that the people who do return often post their reckless adventures on social media, encouraging others to do the same.

"That 'if they did it, so can I' attitude may be one of the most dangerous holiday activity mindsets."

While it can definitely be dangerous for novices to try out cave diving, the Italian nationals who recently died in the Maldives were said to have been experienced divers, thus raising more questions about what happened to them.

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