An elite squad of Finnish divers recovered the final two bodies of the Italian tourists who were trapped 200 feet in a shark-infested underwater cave in the Maldives.
Officials were seen shielding the bodies from public view while they were being transferred from a police boat to an ambulance at Male Harbour. The divers faced a race against time amid fears the bodies could be consumed by sharks – and they used advanced technical systems, including closed-circuit rebreathers, a system that recycles exhaled breathing gas and removes carbon dioxide through a chemical scrubber, which allows for “significantly longer dives,” a spokesperson for the Divers’ Alert Network Europe said.
The bodies were found within the cave’s third segment on Monday — after recovery operations restarted following the death of a military diver. Muriel Oddenino’s body was also brought back to the surface. Last week, the remains of diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, 44, were recovered on Friday near the cave’s entrance. The quintet was among 25 Italian tourists on board the Duke of York boat before they vanished during the expedition.
The dive, which took place near the island of Alimathaa, got underway at 11 a.m. last Thursday and concerns grew when the divers failed to return an hour later. Monica Montefalcone and researcher Federico Gualtieri’s bodies were shielded from public view on Tuesday. — in which divers inhale too high a concentration of oxygen that it becomes fatal — may have been a contributing factor.
“Death from oxygen toxicity, or hyperoxia, is one of the most dramatic deaths that can occur during a dive — a horrible end,” the expertAlfonso Bolognini, president of the Italian Society of Underwater and Hyperbaric Medicine, speculated on how the conditions underwater could cause panic and lead to fatal mistakes. “Inside a cave at a depth of 50 meters, all it takes is a problem for a diver or a panic attack for a diver,” he told the outlet.
A squad of elite divers has recovered the two final bodies of the Italian tourists who were trapped in a shark-infested Maldives cave. Giorgia Sommacal / InstagramMonica Montefalcone and researcher Federico Gualtieri's bodies were shielded from public view on Tuesday.
Diving Freak Accidents Maldives
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Remaining bodies of missing tourists found in ‘shark cave’ after Maldives’ worst-ever diving disasterThe bodies of four remaining Italian divers were found Monday in the Maldives, four days after they went missing while exploring an underwater cave. An elite team of three expert divers from Finlan…
Read more »
Bodies of 4 missing Italian divers found in the Maldives, foreign minister saysItaly’s Foreign Ministry says rescuers have found the bodies of four Italian divers inside an underwater cave in the Maldives.
Read more »
VIDEO: Finnish Divers Locate Bodies of 4 Italians in Maldives 'Shark Cave'A team of Finnish diving experts have located the four bodies of the Italian divers who recently died in an underwater cave in the Maldives.
Read more »
Bodies of four missing Italian divers found inside 'shark cave' in Maldives days after they vanishedRescuers found four Italian divers' bodies deep inside a Maldives underwater cave days after they vanished during a dive far beyond recreational limits.
Read more »