Mortician details grim observation about divers' bodies who died in Maldives 'shark cave' scuba tragedy

A mortician has detailed what likely happened to the bodies of the five Italian tourists who tragically died during a scientific scuba diving mission in the Maldives earlier this month.

Muriel Oddenino, Gianluca Benedetti, and Federico Gualtieri, as well as Monica Montefalcone and her 20-year-old daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, passed away on May 14th after they failed to resurface from the dive in the waters of Vaavu Atoll.

Benedetti was recovered shortly after the tragedy, while the other four deceased were found by Finnish divers days later.

A Maldives National Defense Forces' search and rescue team member also died during rescue efforts.

The victims were found in an area known as the 'shark cave', with a mortician known online as 'Lauren the Mortician' explaining what would have happened to the tourists' bodies.

20-year-old Giorgia Sommacal was one of the tourists to lose her life (Instagram)

In a recent YouTube video, she detailed: "The divers' bodies were turned over to the Maldivian authorities, who are overseeing the investigation and autopsy process, before the victims can eventually be released back to their families.

"From a mortuary science perspective, a week underwater is a long time, especially in warm tropical salt water, because decomposition does not stop underwater. It just changes."

Lauren added: "Now, a lot of people imagine underwater bodies immediately floating around dramatically like in the movies, but that's usually not what happens initially.

"Most bodies actually sink at first, especially divers because they're wearing heavy tanks, weight systems, wet suits, gear, and equipment specifically designed to help control buoyancy underwater.

"But as decomposition begins, bacteria inside the body naturally start producing gases. And over time, those gases can create buoyancy changes."

An image of inside the cave (DAN EUROPE)

Lauren went on to say that bodies at the depth found in the 'shark cave' will be submerged for far longer than you may think, so reports that one of the deceased was 'floating against the roof of the cave' somewhat surprised the mortician.

However, she noted: "Scientifically, that actually makes sense because that underwater buoyancy after death can dramatically vary depending on your body composition, how much residual trapped air you have inside your equipment, your own bodily decomposition gases, the positioning of the body, currents, weights, and even tiny differences in their gear setup."

Diver Sami Paakkarinen, who was part of the recovery team, revealed the group entered the cave without proper cave diving equipment, a diving reel or guide rope.

"The equipment we found them with wasn't optimal, they weren't using underwater caving gear," he said.

Duke of York liveaboard, the company behind the scuba excursion, have had their operating licence indefinitely suspended, pending the outcome of an investigation.

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