Five tourists have died in the Maldives in the worst SCUBA diving incident the island nation has ever seen. The incident occurred yesterday at the Vaavu atoll, with the five said to have been 160 ft underwater exploring a cave system.
All five are Italian nationals, including University of Genoa marine biology professor Monica Montefalcone, her 20-year-old daughter Giorgia Sommacal, Muriel Oddenino of Turin, Gianluca Benedetti of Padua, and Federico Gualtieri of Borgomanero.
The exact timeline of events is unknown, but the five boarded the tourist yacht The Duke of York early on Thursday and entered the water that morning. By noon, the crew became concerned that the divers hadn’t resurfaced and raised the alarm, with the police receiving a report of missing divers at 01:45 pm.
Rescue divers were dispatched, and at 06:13 pm discovered a body. As the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) spokesperson explained:
“The body was found approximately 60m (197 feet) under the sea, inside a cave. The remaining four missing divers are believed to be inside the cave, which stretches approximately 200 feet.”
The divers’ plan remains unclear, though it’s noted that they were exceeding the legal limit for recreational diving in the Maldives by some distance.
“Way past past narc depth”
Seasoned SCUBA divers have expressed their horror at the depths these divers had reached, underlining that even as pros, they’d have second thoughts about entering a cave at those depths:
Christ. 160 is way past past narc depth and into CNS oxygen toxicity range. Been diving for most of my life and the deepest I've ever been was 210 on trimix and that was incredibly intimidating. I don't even go past 40 without nitrox. Can't imagine 160 on air. Those poor people. https://t.co/pB0a6eATQV
— PK Patchworks (@PKPatchworks) May 15, 2026
Another points out that the cave would be pitch black with zero visibility, underlining how easy it would be to get disoriented and panic inside. It’s also theorized that this may have been an unfortunate chain of events where a single diver suffered nitrogen narcosis, and others descended to aid them, and all proceeded to suffer the same fate.
Lord only knows. One or two may have separated from the group and narc'd. When the others went to retrieve them they likely also narc'd. Given depth possible oxtox, siezed, spit their reg. Not a lot of ways for something like this to play out unfortunately.
— PK Patchworks (@PKPatchworks) May 15, 2026
The recovery process is ongoing, with the MNDF rescue divers underlining that even locating and bringing the bodies to the surface is a “high-risk operation” that requires special equipment. That professional divers are having trouble only emphasizes just how dangerous this tourist dive was.
It should be clarified that SCUBA diving is a safe, fun, and fascinating activity. However, any tourist doing it needs to be carefully supervised by responsible professionals, and under absolutely no circumstances should you ever enter an underwater cave. It’s incredibly easy to get lost inside, panic, kick up silt, get more lost, and then end up dying a truly horrific death.
