Bodies of last two Italian divers recovered in Maldives

ROME - The bodies of the last two of five Italian divers killed while diving in a deep underwater cave have been recovered, an Italian foreign ministry source said on Wednesday.

"The first one has already been lifted onto a support boat. The second is being brought up by a diver who is observing the decompression stops," the source said.

Maldives government spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef, told AFP: "Both two remaining divers have been recovered from the cave and have been brought to surface."

The five Italians died on May 14 while diving at Vaavu atoll.

One body was recovered the same day and two more were recovered on Tuesday from a cave at a depth of 60 metres (195 feet).

A Maldivian National Defence Force (MNDF) rescuer also died from decompression complications on Saturday.

Italy started an international recovery effort after the death of MNDF diver Staff Sergeant Mohamed Mahudhy forced local authorities to suspend the search.

Italy's University of Genoa said the divers included a marine biology professor, Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia, and two young researchers.

Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Tuesday quoted the university as saying that "the scuba diving activity during which the accident occurred was not part of the activities envisaged by the scientific mission, but was carried out in a personal capacity".

It said requests to the Maldivian authorities "were evidently made outside the scope of the mission authorised by the university".

The Maldives does not allow tourists to dive deeper than 30 meters.

Maldivian authorities have suspended the operating licence of the dive boat the Italian divers were using pending an investigation.

Tourism is a key source of revenue for the low-lying Maldives, a nation of 1,192 small coral islands and atolls scattered some 800 kilometres (500 miles) across the equator in the Indian Ocean.

Its pristine beaches, clear turquoise waters and coral reefs attract divers and snorkelers from around the world, who often stay at secluded resorts or on dive boats.

Several fatalities have been reported in recent years, but diving and water sports-related accidents remain relatively rare. - AFP