Maldives Resumes Search for 4 Italian Divers as Yacht License Suspended After 50-Metre Cave Deaths
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 16
Maldives Resumes Search for 4 Italian Divers as Yacht License Suspended After 50-Metre Cave Deaths
9 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 16
Eight Maldivian divers resumed a high-risk recovery mission Saturday for four Italians believed trapped inside a three-chamber underwater cave in Vaavu Atoll after rough weather halted the search a day earlier.
The five-member Italian group apparently died Thursday while exploring at about 50 metres—well beyond the Maldives' 30-metre recreational limit and into technical-diving depth—while investigators examine why they descended so far.
Rescuers have recovered one body near the cave mouth and searched two chambers, but narrow passages and poor conditions have obstructed access to the third; two Italian cave-rescue specialists are joining the effort.
Maldives authorities called it the country's worst single diving accident and indefinitely suspended the operating licence of the 36-metre yacht Duke of York pending the investigation.
How did five divers on a luxury yacht bypass safety rules to attempt a fatal 50-meter cave dive?
Was the fatal dive a reckless choice or did a catastrophic equipment failure leave even the experts with no escape?