Inside elite dive unit racing against clock to save bodies of tourists from sharks in ‘treacherous’ Maldives caves

AN ELITE task force of top European divers faces a race against the clock to find the bodies of four Italians who may fall prey to sharks lurking in Maldivian caves.

Five scuba divers on a university research expedition went missing on Thursday morning and were quickly presumed dead, with the only body recovered so far found hours later.

Three Finnish divers have now arrived in the paradise archipelago to help get the high-risk recovery mission over the line on its fourth day.

The elite unit, which was assembled and dispatched. by DAN Europe, are searching around the Alimatha cave complex near Vaavu Atoll.

Among them are Sami Paakkarinen and Patrik Grönqvist, who gained international renown for recovering surviving divers in the 2014 Plura incident in Norway.

The divers have worked in some of the most difficult missions, including the 2018 rescue of the child football team trapped in a Thai cave.

Laura Marroni, CEO of the European divers network, told La Stampa: “We’ll bring them back. We can’t leave them at the mercy of the sharks.”

“We need experts here.”

Marroni stressed that speed was of the essence, the four missing divers have been up to 200ft underwater for nearly four days now.

He said: “Unfortunately, in warm waters, even if we don’t know exactly what fauna is in the cave, we can’t rule out the risk of predators like sharks or environmental impacts.

“During past recoveries, the worst happened. So every hour that passes is crucial.”

The loss of a Maldivian rescue diver yesterday has emphasised the mission’s extreme danger, with the total death toll rising to six.

The team of expert European divers left for Malé, the Maldives capital, yesterday, with the aim of assisting the brave search teams.

Marroni said: “We offered our decades of experience and selected the best and most experienced divers immediately available: the Finnish team.”

The elite trio can dive to depths of nearly 500 feet, giving them ample wiggle room to search the difficult cave complex.

“We are talking about people among the most competent in the world for these operations,” Marroni said.

But risks such as poor visibility caused by rising sediment, as well as a narrow two to three metre cave corridor, still pose risks for the experts.

Adding to their troubles, there is a lack of technical equipment available on site.

“The Maldives aren’t known for deep-sea diving or cave diving, so there’s a lack of training or organization for this type of recovery,” Marroni explained.

In a statement released on their website, the company wrote: “DAN has always stood alongside the international diving community, providing medical assistance, emergency coordination, and operational support in the event of diving accidents.

“It is within this context that the organisation has decided to make resources, expertise, and specialised personnel available to support the ongoing operations.”

Meanwhile, the lawyer for Albatros Top Boat, the Italian tour operator who sold the high-end diving cruise package, is flying to the Maldives.

Orietta Stella, an experienced diver herself, said: “I want to understand what happened to these poor people and I want to follow the recovery of their bodies.”

The company’s luxury Duke of York yacht, from which the Italian team launched their expedition, did not have a permit allowing dives of more than 100ft.

The operator has insisted it did not authorise a dive beyond that depth.