President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has extended his deepest condolences to Italian President Sergio Mattarella and the people of Italy following a diving accident in Vaavu Atoll that left one Italian national confirmed dead and four others missing.
Deepest condolences to President Sergio Mattarella and the people of Italy following the tragic diving incident in Vaavu Atoll, Maldives yesterday. We are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the deceased Italian, the missing four…
— Dr Mohamed Muizzu (@MMuizzu) May 15, 2026
In a statement, the President said the government was deeply saddened by the tragedy and that his thoughts and prayers were with the family of the deceased, the families of the four missing divers, and all those affected. He said the search for the remaining divers remained the government’s highest priority and thanked the Italian government for its support in the ongoing recovery operation.
The accident occurred on Thursday near the island of Alimathaa in Vaavu Atoll, roughly 100 kilometres south of Male. Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that the divers were attempting to explore underwater caves at a depth of around 50 metres when they failed to surface. Local officials have described the incident as the worst single diving accident in the country’s history.
According to the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), a distress call was received at the Coast Guard’s maritime coordination centre at 1.45pm local time after the group of five failed to return to their vessel. The body of one diver was later recovered from inside a cave system at a depth of approximately 60 metres. Authorities believe the four remaining divers are inside the same cave network.
The MNDF deployed aircraft, speedboats, and a coastguard vessel to coordinate the search operation, which continued through the night. Additional coastguard divers have since been sent to assist. Police noted that weather conditions in the area were rough on Thursday, with a yellow warning in place for passenger boats and fishermen.
The divers were aboard the Duke of York, a luxury liveaboard vessel operated by a foreign company. Four of the victims have been identified by Italian media and the University of Genoa as members of the university’s marine science community. They include Monica Montefalcone, an associate professor of ecology and scientific director of the Mare Caldo project that monitors warming seas along the Italian coast, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, a biomedical engineering student, research fellow Muriel Oddenino, and marine biology graduate Federico Gualtieri. The fifth diver has been reported as dive instructor and boat operations manager Gianluca Benedetti.
The University of Genoa issued a statement expressing its deepest condolences to the families and to the wider academic community. Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said its embassy in Sri Lanka was providing consular assistance to the families of those involved.
Maldivian police have begun an investigation into the circumstances of the accident. Authorities have not issued a final conclusion, though diving specialists cited in international media have pointed to the inherent risks of deep cave diving, including oxygen toxicity, nitrogen narcosis, and disorientation in complex underwater cave systems.
