Finnish divers join efforts to recover bodies of Italians in Maldives

Finnish divers join efforts to recover bodies of Italians in Maldives

The underwater cave divers are joining efforts to find and recover the bodies of four Italian scuba divers who died in an accident in Vaavu Atoll.

Maldives National Defence Force divers prepare for a search and recovery operation for missing Italian tourists in Vaavu Atoll. (EPA Images pic)
COLOMBO:
Three Finnish cave divers are joining efforts in the Maldives today to try to find and recover the bodies of four Italian scuba divers who died in an accident in underwater caves, the DAN Europe divers’ network said.

The team arrived on Sunday, DAN Europe said in a statement, after the incident in the Vaavu Atoll, where the Italian divers had been exploring caves at a depth of 50m on Thursday.

The body of one of the Italian divers was recovered on Friday, the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) said in a statement on Friday.

“The body was recovered from about 60m deep from inside a cave structure.

“It is assumed that the rest of the divers would also be inside this cave which is about 60m in length,” the statement said.

The Finnish divers – Sami Paakkarinen, Jenni Westerlund and Patrik Grönqvist – will work with the MNDF and other officials.

A MNDF diver taking part in the search, Sergeant-major Mohamed Mahudhee, died on Saturday from decompression illness, prompting the MNDF to temporarily suspend the recovery effort which has been taking place in rough weather and sea conditions.

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