A team of Finnish expert divers may have unraveled the mystery as to how five Italian divers lost their lives inside a cave complex in the Maldives.
The company that recovered the bodies of the group on Thursday said its divers found them in a corridor with a dead end where they were believed to have been trapped, CBS News reported Thursday.
DAN Europe CEO Laura Marroni said, “There was no way out from there,” the outlet noted.
The expert divers located four of the bodies earlier this week while the body of a diving instructor was previously found outside the cave, per Breitbart News.
“The Italian divers were identified as Monica Montefalcone, an associate ecology professor at the University of Genoa; her daughter Giorgia Sommacal; marine biologist Federico Gualtieri; researcher Muriel Oddenino; and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti. A Maldivian military diver also died while searching for the missing Italians,” the CBS article read.
The Finnish divers recovered the final two bodies on Wednesday, according to the New York Post, which also said the operation was time sensitive because authorities feared sharks would disturb the bodies.
The diving group reportedly became trapped in a corridor after mistaking it for the correct one and it is believed they had trouble turning around, Marroni explained, adding they were using standard tanks that did not give them a lot of time to explore further underwater.
“We’re talking about 10 minutes, maybe even less. Realizing that the path is the wrong one and having little air, perhaps after going back and forth, is terrifying. Then you breathe quickly and the air supply decreases,” she continued.
Meanwhile, crews have recovered GoPro camera footage of the group’s final moments that officials hope will aid in their investigation, GB News reported Thursday.
“Authorities are also probing how the group was permitted to descend to nearly 200 feet, even though the Maldives restricts tourist diving to 98 feet,” the outlet said.