Source: Africa Publicity
At least five Italian scuba divers have reportedly died while exploring underwater caves in the Maldives.
Italian reports say they died on Thursday, May 14, 2026.
Their identities have since been revealed, according to media reports.
Reports say the now deceased Italian divers had set off on a diving expedition on Thursday morning to explore the Vaavu atoll but never resurfaced.
One of the victims has been named by Italian media as 51-year-old Monica Montefalcone, a respected marine biologist, TV personality, and professor of Tropical Marine Ecology and Underwater Science at the University of Genoa, according to reports which said her 20-year-old daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, also died.
The other three victims have been named as Muriel Oddenino of Turin, Gianluca Benedetti of Padua, and Federico Gualtieri of Borgomanero.
Montefalcone worked at Distav, the Department of Earth Sciences. In the Maldives, she was the scientific director of the island monitoring campaign, according to Italian reports.
Oddenino, a marine biologist and ecologist, was her colleague at the University of Genoa.
Benedetti, 44, was an operations manager, a diving instructor and a boat captain.
After working in banking and finance for several years, he had turned his passion for diving into a full-time career.
Speaking about her son’s tragic death, Benededetti’s mother told Italian news outlet Gazzettino: ‘I heard the news from the embassy. I can’t say anything, and you can only imagine the pain.’
Gualtieri was a diving instructor. The group had boarded the ‘luxury’ Duke of York yacht, a foreign-operated live-aboard diving vessel, and they disappeared near Alimatha, one of the atoll’s most popular diving spots.
Aircraft and speedboats were deployed for a major search after the group of five was reported missing on Thursday afternoon, the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) said in a statement.
“One body has been found among five divers who went diving in Vaavu Atoll,” the statement noted, adding that “The body was found inside a cave. It is believed that the remaining four divers are also inside the same cave, which extends to a depth of about 60 metres (200 feet).”
The diver whose body was discovered has not been publicly identified.
Rescue teams on Friday continued their search for the remaining bodies.
