The boyfriend of a diver who was killed during an expedition within the Maldives has declared he’ll keep waiting for her as he ‘still can’t understand’ her death.
Giorgia Sommacal was certainly one of five Italian nationals who died during a cave-diving mission in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday.
Giorgia’s boyfriend, Federico Colombo, has since told the Italian media he was eagerly anticipating her return home.
He said: ‘She was due back on the twenty fourth, for my birthday, and I couldn’t wait for her to reach. I’ll wait until then because I still can’t understand what happened.’
Federico, a 26-year-old bartender, had been dating Giorgia for 2 years and eight months and saw her ‘as my [future] wife, the mother of my children’.
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He explained Giorgia was because of graduate from the University of Genoa – where her late mother was an associate professor – this yr, before they took a visit to Egypt along with her family.
However the young couple’s plans were abruptly shattered when Giorgia’s father, Carlo Sommacal, visited the bar where Federico worked and delivered some painful news.
‘He got here here to the bar and told me. I still can’t process what happened. She definitely wants me to maneuver on with my life, but now I don’t know methods to react, methods to move on.’
Federico told Italian outlet Corriere Della Sera that he had last heard from Giorgia ‘a couple of moments before she dived.’
He said: ‘She was thrilled, as at all times. She told me that as soon as she surfaced, the very first thing she’d do was send me photos of the Maldivian depths.
‘I waited for those shots. But they never arrived. Then her father, Carlo, told me concerning the tragedy. My world fell apart.’
Speaking of his relationship with Giorgia’s mother, Monica Montefalcone – who also died in the course of the dive – he added: ‘She was like a second mother to me.
‘And the connection between her and Giorgia was unique. They were incredibly close.’
He added that the 2 bonded over their shared love of the ocean and diving.
What happened within the Maldives?
On Thursday, five Italian nationals went missing during a cave diving trip.
Along with the mother and daughter, marine biologist Federico Gualtieri, researcher Muriel Oddenino, and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti died.
The body of diving instructor Federico Benedetti was the primary to be found last week near the mouth of the cave, before rescue efforts were called off amid rough weather conditions and following the death of local military diver Mohamed Mahudhee during recovery efforts.
Authorities imagine the opposite 4 entered the cave before they lost their lives.
Two of the remaining 4 bodies were recovered today, and the remaining two are expected to be retrieved from the water next week.
Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, offered his condolences to Mr Mahudhee’s family and said the whole lot possible could be done to bring the bodies of the victims home.
The diving limit within the Maldives is 30m. Nevertheless, the group is known to have died at a depth of around 50m below the surface.
The Italian tour operator that managed the diving trip has denied authorising or knowing concerning the aspect of the group’s dive which exceeded local limits, its lawyer told Italian local publication Corriere della Sera.
In an announcement on Friday, the University of Genoa said Ms Montefalcone and Ms Oddenino had travelled to the Maldives on an official research trip to observe marine environments and study the results of climate change on tropical biodiversity.
The scuba diving trip was not a component of the trip and was ‘undertaken privately’, the statement added, and the opposite two victims weren’t a part of the official research trip.
An investigation is ongoing.
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