Italy’s foreign minister says divers found bodies of 4 Italians dead in Maldives sea cave

ROME (AP) — Italy’s Foreign Ministry said Monday rescuers have located the bodies of four Italian divers believed to be deep inside an underwater cave in a Maldive atoll.

The searches had resumed on Monday after being suspended following the death of a local military diver during a perilous mission to try to reach them.

Five Italian divers are believed to have died while exploring a cave at a depth of about 50 meters (160 feet) in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday, according to Italy’s Foreign Ministry. The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is 30 meters (98 feet).

The body of one Italian — a diving instructor — was found earlier outside the cave.

Three Finnish divers had arrived in the Maldives Sunday to draw up a fresh plan in the search for the bodies of the other four, who were believed to be inside the cave system.

Maldives presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef said the search was suspended after Mohamed Mahudhee, a member of the Maldivian National Defense Force, died of underwater decompression sickness after being transferred to a hospital in the capital on Saturday.

Shareef said Sunday that three Finnish divers, experts in deep and cave diving, have arrived in the archipelago nation and joined the Maldives coastguard in a meeting aimed at mapping a new search strategy.

Rough weather has repeatedly hampered rescue efforts.

Initial teams had already dived to identify and mark the entrance to the cave system where the Italians disappeared. The cause of the deaths remains under investigation.