The divers involved in the recovery mission suggested that the group might have lost their way inside the cave due to a wall of sand, which led to panic, depletion of breathing gas, and ultimately death.

On May 21, Laura Marroni, CEO of DAN Europe — the organization managing the recovery team for the five Italian tourists in the Maldives — announced new findings that could unlock the cause of the worst scuba diving accident in the history of this archipelago nation.

The diving tragedy occurred at a submerged cave system in Vaavu Atoll, Maldives, on May 14, claiming the lives of five Italian visitors. They were scientists and students from the University of Genoa (Italy). The group, led by 51-year-old Professor Monica Montefalcone, was conducting a dive to research an undocumented species of coral. Among the casualties was Giorgia Sommacal, 22, the daughter of Mrs. Montefalcone.

According to the rescue team, the cave where the incident took place is located at a depth of approximately 50 meters below the surface. The initial section consists of a large, very bright cavern dome with a sandy bottom. Pᴀssing through it, they found a corridor with very little light, but visibility was good when using specialized dive lights.

This corridor is nearly 30 meters long, 3 meters wide, and leads to a second cave. This area features a large, circular space completely devoid of natural light. Situated between this corridor and the second chamber is a submerged sandbank.

Crossing the sandbank to enter the second chamber is very easy, but when departing, this sandbank looks like a wall that completely obscures the exit corridor.

To the left of the submerged sandbank lies another corridor several dozen meters long. The bodies of all victims were found inside this corridor, indicating that they may have mistaken it for the correct exit, according to Ms. Marroni. She noted that if the Italian group had mistakenly entered that corridor, turning back would have been very difficult, especially with a limited supply of reserve gas.

The group of five Italians used standard cylinders, meaning they had less than 10 minutes at that depth to explore the second cave chamber.

“Realizing that you have taken the wrong turn and have little air remaining, perhaps after swimming back and forth to find the way, is truly horrific. In that moment, you will breathe faster, and the air supply will drop,” she added.

Sami Paakkarinen, one of the three Finnish rescue divers who participated in recovering the bodies, dismissed the hypothesis that the group had been sucked into the cave, a prior speculation raised by Alfonso Bolognini, President of the Italian Society of Underwater and Hyperbaric Medicine.

Mr. Bolognini had previously theorized that the group might have been sucked into the cave system by a strong current caused by the unique structure of the entrance — also known as the “Venturi effect.”

The diver, Sami, stated that at the scene, the water moves in one direction for 12 hours and then shifts in the opposite direction for the next 12 hours, creating continuous tidal cycles. The currents here are highly predictable, and when the rescue team entered the cave, they only felt “a mild current.”

“It was not strong enough to suck anyone in,” he said.

The five Italian victims included marine ecology Professor Monica Montefalcone (University of Genoa), her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, two researchers Federico Gualtieri and Muriel Oddenino, and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti. A representative of the University of Genoa confirmed the group was undertaking a scientific mission to monitor the marine environment and the impacts of climate change.

A Maldivian military diver also pᴀssed away during the search for the missing Italian group.

Cave diving is highly technical and dangerous, requiring specialized training, dedicated equipment, and strict safety protocols. The risks of diving escalate severely in environments where a diver cannot swim vertically straight to the surface.

Experts state that it is very easy for divers to become disoriented or lose their way inside caves, particularly when stirred-up sediment clouds drastically reduce visibility.

A sediment cloud is a phenomenon where a layer of fine silt and loose dust, accumulated over many years on the cave floor, is disturbed by a fin kick or a diver’s exhaust bubbles. It creates a dense, murky fog, obliterating visibility to absolute zero within seconds, rendering even dive lights completely useless.

Over the past 6 years, the Maldives — a nation consisting of 1,192 coral islands — has recorded at least 112 tourist deaths related to maritime activities, including 42 cases resulting from scuba diving or snorkeling accidents.