Maldives Diving Tragedy: What Happened on Excursion That Left 5 Dead

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On May 14th, four Italian tourists—all skilled divers—and their instructor went scuba diving in the Maldives to investigate a sea cave.

None of them survived the journey.

Instructor Gianluca Benedetti’s body was found that same day near the entrance of a cave in the Maldives’ Vaavu Atoll. Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, Federico Gualtieri, and Muriel Oddenino were discovered inside the cave on May 18th. The extensive search involved multiple teams, but was delayed on May 15th due to poor weather. It was briefly halted the next day when a Maldivian military diver tragically died while attempting to recover the bodies.

The Maldives National Defense Force announced on X that the missing divers have been found, and recovery efforts will continue with additional dives in the next few days.

Investigators are trying to figure out what happened to a diving group that went 50 meters (about 164 feet) below the ocean’s surface. This depth is significantly beyond the usual recreational diving limit in the Maldives, and diving deeper than 40 meters requires specific training and gear.

According to Maldives government spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef, both recreational and commercial divers are legally limited to depths of 30 meters. However, he stated on May 18th that the recent incident appears to have occurred much deeper, as the entrance to the cave is nearly 50 meters below the surface.

The group began their trip aboard the 118-foot Duke of York, a vessel run by the Italian tour company Albatros Top Boat. Following the incident, the Maldives Ministry of Tourism & Civil Aviation suspended the boat’s operating license while they conduct a complete investigation. In a statement released on May 17th, the Ministry assured the public they will take all necessary steps to determine responsibility and maintain the expected standards for all tourism-related businesses and services.

As Shareef told CNN, “Everything will be looked into.”

Albatros, through its lawyer, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that the company was unaware the divers intended to go deeper than 30 meters and would not have permitted them to do so, according to the Associated Press.

According to lawyer Orietta Stella, the divers seemed to be using typical gear for recreational diving, not the specialized equipment needed for exploring deep underwater caves. She also pointed out that although Albatros advertised the cruise, they didn’t actually own the Duke of York boat or hire its crew.

TopMob News reached out to Albatros Top Boat for comment and has yet to hear back.

Here’s what we know about the tragic diving accident in the Maldives, which officials are calling the country’s worst on record, as investigations continue.

Who were the Italian divers who died in the Maldives?

On May 14th, diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti guided a group of four divers – all connected to the University of Genoa – on an underwater exploration of a cave in the Maldives’ Vaavu Atoll, an area known for having the country’s biggest coral reef.

Ecology professor Monica Montefalcone was joined by her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, a 20-year-old bioengineering student. Completing the team were Muriel Oddenino, a research fellow, and Federico Gualtieri, who recently earned a master’s degree in marine ecology from the university.

According to Italy’s Foreign Ministry, the five divers were part of a larger group of 20 people on a week-long trip, and everyone stayed on the boat during the dive. A sixth person, a student at the University of Genoa, had originally planned to join them but decided against it just before they entered the water.

Carlo Sommacal, husband of the missing diver, told Rete 4 television that something likely went wrong during her dive. He explained that his wife had previously survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami while diving in Kenya, according to the Associated Press.

In an interview with La Repubblica, he stated that she’s a highly experienced diver – likely having completed around 5,000 dives – and is always very careful. He emphasized that she would never intentionally endanger their daughter or any other children.

Greenpeace Italia expressed their sadness over Montefalcone’s passing, praising her expertise and guidance. They also fondly remembered her passion for the ocean and her dedication to its preservation, noting how her enthusiasm always shone through when she spoke about it.

The University of Genoa expressed its deepest condolences to the families, colleagues, and students affected by this loss, acknowledging the shared experiences and relationships they had with those impacted.

The school stated, as reported by ABC News Australia, that the dive which resulted in fatalities was a private undertaking.

Who was the Maldivian military diver who died during the recovery effort?

Officials have confirmed that 43-year-old Mohamed Mahudhee, a Staff Sergeant with the Maldives National Defense Force, died on May 16th while participating in a second attempt to recover bodies from the cave where they were eventually located.

According to government spokesperson Shareef, the diver was highly experienced, highlighting the difficulty of the dive, as he told CNN.

Officials said he died from decompression sickness, often called “the bends.” This dangerous condition happens when pressure changes too quickly. He was rushed to ADK Hospital for treatment, but unfortunately passed away while doctors were caring for him.

According to Shareef, the diver was following standard procedure by diving with a partner. While they were ascending, the partner noticed something was off, and the rest of the team immediately went into the water to attempt a rescue.

Mahudhee was buried with full military honors in Malé, the capital of the Maldives, on May 16th. According to The Standard, a local news publication, hundreds of people attended the funeral, including President Mohamed Muizzu, government officials, and members of the military.

Who found the bodies of the four Italian divers in the Maldives?

Divers found the body of Benedetti near the entrance of the cave on May 14th. The Maldives’ Ministry of Tourism & Civil Aviation officially confirmed the recovery on May 17th.

On May 18th, the Maldives National Defense Force announced that the four missing divers had been found. The search and recovery effort involved the MNDF Coast Guard, Maldivian police, and a team of experts from Italy working together.

I was so relieved when Shareef told me that three incredibly skilled Finnish divers from Divers Alert Network Europe joined the mission on May 17th. They really helped us rethink our approach! Plus, we got some fantastic specialized equipment from the UK and Australia, which made a huge difference.

Once the divers found the four bodies, one of them wrote “WE FOUND ALL FOUR” in the dive logbook. The logbook page was then brought to the surface, as shared in a post on DAN Europe’s Facebook page.

The underwater operation was incredibly difficult, both for the divers and those supporting them, and it took around three hours to complete.

The team successfully completed a long and challenging dive deep inside a cave, relying on advanced equipment like rebreathers and underwater scooters, as well as backup life-support systems, according to a statement from DAN Europe.

Before the mission, CEO Laura Marroni told ABC News that the entrance to the cave is about 55 to 60 meters underwater, and the cave system itself stretches for hundreds of meters, with several chambers and tunnels.

She told La Stampa they would recover the bodies, explaining, “We can’t leave them to be eaten by sharks.”

What happened to the Italian divers who died during a May 14 scuba excursion in the Maldives?

Italian and Maldivian authorities are still trying to determine what caused the deaths of the five divers.

According to Shareef, the four divers who went missing were located in the deepest section of the sea cave. Divers are scheduled to recover two of them on May 19th, and the remaining two the following day.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani stated to the Associated Press that they will do everything they can to return Italian citizens home.

Just a reminder that the ocean can be unpredictable and dangerous. Here are some examples of other trips that unfortunately ended badly:

A boat accident on Lake Tahoe in June 2025 resulted in eight deaths, marking the worst boating tragedy in California in six years. Among those killed were Doordash executive Josh Pickles, his parents, Terry Pickles and Paula Bozinovic, and his uncle, Peter Bayes, as confirmed by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Coroner’s Division to ABC 7 San Francisco.

The family was celebrating Pickles’ mother’s 71st birthday when the crash happened, according to a family representative. Timothy O’Leary, James Guck, Theresa Giullari, and Stephen Lindsay also died in the accident. Only two people survived.

In March 2025, a tourist submarine accident in the Red Sea near Egypt resulted in the deaths of six Russian tourists, according to Egyptian officials who spoke with NBC News. Of the 45 people on board, 39 survived. Nine of the survivors suffered injuries, while the other 30 were able to return to their hotels, as reported by the Associated Press.

The sunken vessel belonged to Sinbad Submarines, a company that provides underwater tours for tourists. These tours take people 25 meters below the surface and cost $70 per person. Following the accident, the company released a statement to Daily News Egypt expressing their deep sadness for the six people who died, and offered condolences to their families.

 

In March 2025, Kimberly Burch, who was engaged to Taime Downe of the band Faster Pussycat, fell from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship near Miami, according to her mother, Carnell Burch, in a report to TMZ.

Two months after her death, Downe stated in an interview that his fiancée likely died due to a combination of alcohol and prescription drugs.

Downe described his grief as an emotional rollercoaster when speaking with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation in May 2025. He said he’s doing his best to cope, focusing on getting through each day as it comes.

 

In August 2024, a superyacht sank off the coast of Sicily during an unusual storm. Sadly, six people died in the accident. Those who perished included tech executive Mike Lynch, his daughter Hannah, attorney Christopher Morvillo and his wife Neda, and Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy. The yacht had 22 people on board, including 10 crew members and 12 passengers.

Investigators concluded the accident was due to a waterspout – essentially a tornado over the sea. Salvo Cocina, who leads Sicily’s civil protection agency, explained to NBC News that the boat unfortunately happened to be in the path of the storm.

Charlotte Golunski, one of the few people who lived through the disaster—along with her daughter and partner—told La Repubblica that the storm felt like “the end of the world.”

The world was captivated in June 2023 by the story of the Titan, a submersible operated by OceanGate that took people to see the wreckage of the Titanic. After the vessel went missing, a four-day search ensued, focusing on the limited 96-hour oxygen supply onboard. Sadly, it was discovered that the Titan had suffered a catastrophic implosion, resulting in the deaths of all five people on board.

The lost submersible carried OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British businessman Hamish Harding, British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet.

Just under a month after the submersible imploded, OceanGate closed down completely. The documentary Implosion: Titanic Sub Disaster, released almost two years after the event, investigated the causes of the crash, including OceanGate’s disregard for safety procedures. The Coast Guard also shared footage they believe captured the moment the submersible imploded.

In the video, Wendy Rush, a director at the submersible tourism company and who was watching the dive from OceanGate’s offices, heard a loud noise just as the submersible began its descent to 3,300 meters. She immediately asked a coworker, Gary Foss, “What was that bang?”

Naya Rivera, the star of the TV show Glee, disappeared during a boating trip on California’s Lake Piru with her son, Josey, on July 8, 2020. Authorities found Josey alone on the boat, prompting a five-day search. Sadly, Rivera’s body was discovered floating on the lake’s surface. During the investigation, her son, who she shared with ex-husband Ryan Dorsey, recalled that they had been swimming and he remembered his mom helping him back onto the boat. According to Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub, strong currents on the lake, especially in the afternoon, likely played a role. Investigators believe Rivera managed to get her son back on the boat, but didn’t have the strength to save herself as the unanchored boat drifted.

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2026-05-18 23:48