On May 14, four Italian nationals, along with their diving instructor, entered an underwater cave system in the Maldives’ Vaavu Atoll to conduct marine research, but never resurfaced.
A search-and-rescue operation was soon launched to locate them, but as time passed without results, the mission turned into a search-and-recovery operation.
Well-regarded Finnish diving trio Sami Paakkarinen, Patrik Grönqvist, and Jenni Westerlund were called in to help, retrieving the tourists’ bodies between May 18 and 19. They were repatriated to Italy on Saturday, May 23.
