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

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ROME (AP) — Italy’s Foreign Ministry said Monday that 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, experts in deep and cave diving had arrived in the Indian Ocean nation on 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.

The three Finnish divers, Maldives police and the military conducted a combined search on Monday during which they found the four bodies, said Ahmed Shaam, a Maldives government spokesman.

It was unclear if the divers went under water and saw the bodies physically or they spotted them by underwater drone cameras.

Shaam said the searchers will now devise a plan to bring the bodies to the surface.

Maldives presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef said earlier that 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.

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.

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Mohamed Sharuhaaan contributed to this report from Male, Maldives