Husband who lost wife, daughter in Maldives diving tragedy insists ‘something happened down there’ as he searches for answers

THE search for the bodies of five Italian divers who died while exploring an underwater cave in the Maldives has been called off for today.

Local authorities suspended the high-risk operation due to bad weather – as heartbreaking tributes continue to pour in for the tragic tourists.

The group were travelling on the luxury Duke of York yacht and set off to explore a cave around at a popular diving spot near the Vaavu Atoll.

One of the bodies, belonging to Gianluca Benedetti, has been found – but emergency services are yet to locate the four others.

Monica Montefalcone, an ᴀssociate ecology professor at the University of Genoa, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, researcher Muriel Oddenino and marine biologist Federico Gualtieri, also died in the sea expedition.

The group are believed to have been exploring 160ft beneath the surface of the water.

All five of them, understood to be experienced divers, entered a cave which contains three parts – two of which were searched on Friday.

It is hoped that the last four bodies will be found after emergency services explore the final section when the search is resumed.

Italian media reports have speculated that the group may have been diving too deep, past local regulations.

Deep diving beyond 100 feet is reportedly banned in the Maldives.

Written permission from authorities is needed in order to explore deeper than this – and investigators are probing whether the five divers had the correct documentation.

Italian authorities are working with their Maldivian counterparts to conduct the gruelling search.

Additional personnel have been deployed to the Asian islands to support the operation.

Witnesses told local media the five divers were only supposed to be on the expedition for less than one hour.

There were 20 other holidaymakers on the Duke of York yacht when the tragedy unfolded.

One of them told ANSA: “The dive was supposed to last less than an hour.

They dived at 11:00am, and when we didn’t see them resurface around 12pm, we started searching for them with the boat.”

The bystander added: “We were a few hundred meters away from them, the visibility was excellent.

“We thought they were equalising… after a quick search with no results, we immediately raised the alarm with the Foreign Ministry’s Crisis Unit.

“Rescue operations were swift.”

Devastated families of the five victims have also spoken of the unspeakable pain of losing their loved ones.

Monica’s husband Carlo Sommacal told La Repubblica daily: “She would never have put her daughter’s life or the lives of the other children at risk out of recklessness.

“Something happened down there.”

Carlo described his late wife as “one of the best divers on earth” and insisted that she would not have taken the risk had she been aware of the warning.

He said: “If there really was a yellow alert, they must have dived in earlier. I’m ready to swear anything about Monica’s behaviour.”

Some prevalent theories are that the group were carrying faulty tanks with an incorrect oxygen mixture, or that a member got stuck and the others died trying to rescue them.

Carlo also told Italian media his wife survived the 2004 tsunami.