Maldives dive instructor may have "swum away" as six died inside pitch-black cave

A Maldives cave diving instructor may have ‘intentionally swum away’ from a tourist group where six people have died as they entered a ‘pitch black cave’.

Five Italians on a research trip were killed during a dive into the 160 ft deep ‘shark cave’ in the Devana Kandu cave system last week.

The bodies of ecology professor Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, researcher Muriel Oddenino, and marine biologist Federico Gualtieri were discovered yesterday.

They were accompanied by diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, whose body was found last week.

Two bodies of those found yesterday have now been brought to the surface, with the other two expected to be recovered tomorrow in a ‘technically complex operation’.

In total six people have been killed as part of the cave dive, with Maldivian military rescue diver Mohamed Mahudhee dying from decompression illness on Saturday during a recovery mission.

The group was on a research trip about soft corals on Thursday morning when the group is believed to have died around 160 ft deep.

They had launched the expedition from the Duke of York yacht, which did not have a permit allowing dives of more than 100 ft.

Monica’s husband and the father of Giorgia, Carlo Sommacal, told Italian media his wife ‘was one of the best divers in the world’ and would never put his daughter at risk.

He said she had carried out about 5,000 dives and was ‘never reckless’.

Shafraz Naeem, a Maldivian diving veteran who has explored the Devana Kandu cave system over 30 times, said he believes ‘rules were broken’ during the dive.

He said light only reaches the first chamber and is pitch black beyond it, adding he believes the instructor ‘intentionally swam away’.

He told the Daily Mail: ‘It is incredibly dangerous to conduct dives at these depths on compressed air.

‘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.’

Gianluca’s body was the first to be recovered from near the mouth of the Thinwana Kandu cave on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the other bodies lie much deeper in the cave system.

The Italian tour operator that managed the diving trip has denied authorizing or knowing about the group’s deep dive, which exceeded local limits, its lawyer told Italian local publication Corriere della Sera.

An investigation is underway to establish the cause of death.