{"id":338486,"date":"2026-05-21T19:17:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=338486"},"modified":"2026-05-21T19:17:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:47:37","slug":"mystery-of-maldives-divers-killed-in-shark-cave-could-have-been-solved-news-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/21\/mystery-of-maldives-divers-killed-in-shark-cave-could-have-been-solved-news-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Mystery of Maldives divers killed in &#8216;Shark Cave&#8217; could have been solved | News World"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t\t<\/div><figcaption>In total six people have died in the course of the dive, including ecology professor Monica Montefalcone (left) and her daughter Giorgia Sommacal (right)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Finnish divers could have solved the mystery surrounding the deaths five tourists in a \u2018pitch black cave\u2019 within the Maldives.<\/p>\n<p>The experts have suggested that the group may need taken the fallacious tunnel as they left the cave complex.<\/p>\n<p>Five Italians died during a\u00a0dive\u00a0into the 160 ft deep \u2018shark\u00a0cave\u2019 within the Devana Kandu cave system last week.<\/p>\n<p>The bodies of ecology professor Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, researcher Muriel Oddenino, and marine biologist Federico Gualtieri have now all been retrieved.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.metro.co.uk\/i\/html_modules\/2026\/05_MAY\/260521_Maldives_Cave_theory\/index.html\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" class=\"metro-iframe iframe-autoheight \" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" name=\"6a0f0cf805798\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"646\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SEI_297167530-d214.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28379970\" alt=\"Federico Gualtieri died in the Maldives, the 31-year-old Piedmontese Five tourists 'including university professor and her daughter' die during diving excursion in 160ft-deep cave in Maldives\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>Federico Gualtieri, a marine biologist, died in the course of the cave dive on Thursday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"factbox\" data-ico=\"factbox_article\" data-track-module=\"factbox_article\">\n<h2 class=\"factbox-title\">\n\t\t\t\tJoin for all of the most recent stories\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<div class=\"factbox-content\">\n<p>Start your day informed with Metro&#8217;s <strong>News Updates<\/strong> newsletter or get <strong>Breaking News <\/strong>alerts the moment it happens. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>They were accompanied by diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, whose body was found last week.<\/p>\n<p>They were on a research trip  soft corals but are uderstood to have gone on a personal dive on Thursday morning when the group is believed to have died around 160 ft deep.<\/p>\n<p>They&#8217;d launched the expedition from the Duke of\u00a0York\u00a0yacht, which didn&#8217;t have a permit allowing dives of greater than 100ft.<\/p>\n<p>In total, six people have been killed as a part of the cave dive, with Maldivian military rescue diver Mohamed Mahudhee dying from decompression illness on Saturday during a recovery mission.<\/p>\n<p>The deaths have been called the worst diving incident within the history of the island nation and sparked a frenzy of questions on how events unfolded.<\/p>\n<p>A team of Finnish experts has now suggested that the Italian researchers could have taken the fallacious tunnel on their way out of the cave.<\/p>\n<p>The professional-divers, working for Dan Europe,\u00a0discovered the Italians in a corridor with a dead end contained in the underwater complex, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.com\/news\/italy\/index.html\">Italy<\/a>\u2019s La Repubblica each day reported.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"431\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SEI_297317174-7e6a.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28394948\" alt=\"FILE - This undated handout picture released by Greenpeace Italia on Friday, May 15, 2026 shows Monica Montefalcone one of the five Italian scuba divers who died near Alimathaa in the Maldives archipelago while exploring an underwater cave. (Greenpeace via AP, Ho)\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>Monica Montefalcone one among the five Italian scuba divers who died (Picture: Greenpeace via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"345\" height=\"649\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SEI_297163288-838e.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=345\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28379971\" alt=\"Gianluca Benedetti Five tourists 'including university professor and her daughter' die during diving excursion in 160ft-deep cave in Maldives\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>Gianluca Benedetti\u2019s body was the primary to be recovered last week<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u2018There was no way out from there,\u2019 the corporate\u2019s CEO, Laura Marroni, was quoted by La Repubblica as saying.<\/p>\n<p>Marroni revealed the main points of the cave complex and the way the doomed dive may need played out.<\/p>\n<p>She told the newspaper that the cave system begins with a primary large, very shiny cavern with a sandy bottom.<\/p>\n<p>At the top of that room is a badly lit corridor, but with good visibility from artificial lighting.<\/p>\n<p>The passageway\u00a0is sort of 30 metres long and three metres across, which ends up in a second chamber of the cave.<\/p>\n<p>That second chamber is a big, round space with no natural light.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, between the corridor and the second chamber is a sandbank.<\/p>\n<p>While it is straightforward to recover from the sandbank into the second chamber on the way in which in, while you turn around to go away, the bank almost looks like a wall.<\/p>\n<p>That \u2018wall\u2019 then hides the corridor behind it, the paper said.<\/p>\n<p>On the left of the sandbank is one other corridor \u2013 only just a few dozen metres long.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The divers\u2019 bodies were all found inside, as in the event that they had mistaken it\u00a0for the fitting one,\u2019 La Repubblica reported.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i.metro.co.uk\/i\/html_modules\/2026\/05_MAY\/260518_Maldives_Diver_Search\/index.html\" width=\"100%\" height=\"500px\" class=\"metro-iframe iframe-autoheight \" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" name=\"6a0f0cf805c2d\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<figure class=\"img-container shareable-item wp-caption\">\n<div class=\"img-wrap\">\n\t\t<img width=\"646\" height=\"328\" src=\"https:\/\/metro.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SEI_297249118-02ca-e1779261148472.jpg?quality=90&#038;strip=all&#038;w=646\" class=\"article-image wp-image-28379965\" alt=\"15818615 Five tourists die during diving excursion in 160ft-deep cave in Maldives Muriel Oddenino https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo\/?fbid=10238827465\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\">\t<\/div><figcaption>Researcher Muriel Oddenino had been on an official scientific mission with Ms Montefalcone prior to the dive (Picture: Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In the event that they had taken that corridor by mistake, \u2018then it might have been very difficult to return, especially with the limited air supply\u2019, Marroni said.<\/p>\n<p>The expert estimated that the Italians had about 10 minutes or less of air left.<\/p>\n<p>She added: \u201dRealising that the trail is the fallacious one and having little air, perhaps after going backwards and forwards, is terrifying. Then you definately breathe quickly, and the air supply decreases.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Monica\u2019s husband and Giorgia\u2019s dad, Carlo Sommacal, told\u00a0Italian\u00a0media his wife \u2018was top-of-the-line divers on the earth\u2019 and would never put his daughter in danger.<\/p>\n<p>He said she had carried out about 5,000 dives and was \u2018never reckless\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The Italian tour operator that managed the diving trip has denied authorising or knowing in regards to the group\u2019s deep dive, which exceeded local limits, its lawyer told Italian local publication Corriere della Sera.<\/p>\n<p>An investigation is underway to ascertain the reason behind death.<\/p>\n<p>One other theory being considered is that the divers were sucked right into a cave by a robust \u2018freak\u2019 current, often called the \u2018Venturi effect\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong><strong><strong>Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"\"><strong>For more stories like this, <\/strong><strong>check our news page<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Bodycams found on divers killed in Maldives could reveal final moments<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Tributes to bus driver killed in confrontation on Battersea Bridge<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"metro-more-link\"><svg><title>Arrow<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#common-right-arrow\" href=\"#common-right-arrow\"><\/use><\/svg><span class=\"mor-link\" data-track-module=\"mor-link_article\">MORE: Mosque shooters who killed three \u2018livestreamed their attack\u2019 after stealing guns<\/span><\/p>\n<section id=\"share-buttons-bottom\" class=\"share-buttons share-buttons-bottom\"><a class=\"metro-button share-bar-comments\" data-vars-position=\"bottom\" href=\"#metro-comments-container\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Comment now<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-comment\" href=\"#social-comment\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-comments__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span><svg><title>Add Metro as a Preferred Source on Google<\/title>\n<use xlink:href=\"#social-preferred-source\" href=\"#social-preferred-source\"><\/use><\/svg><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"share-bar-preferred-source__label\">Add as preferred source<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card accent--news\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-end-card__inner\">\n<h4>News Updates<\/h4>\n<p>Stay on top of the headlines with each day email updates.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In total six people have died in the course of the dive, including ecology professor Monica Montefalcone (left) and her daughter Giorgia Sommacal (right) Finnish divers could have solved the mystery surrounding the deaths five tourists in a \u2018pitch black cave\u2019 within the Maldives. The experts have suggested that the group may need taken the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":338487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20691],"tags":[7947,11039,3026,28897,818,395,5304,9374,813],"class_list":["post-338486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-cave","tag-divers","tag-killed","tag-maldives","tag-mystery","tag-news","tag-shark","tag-solved","tag-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338486"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338489,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338486\/revisions\/338489"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}