What to Know
The diving expedition in the Maldives that claimed the lives of five divers and two rescuers just keeps getting more and more tragic. According to CNN, instructor Gianluca Benedetti led the group, which included Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, Federico Gualtieri, and Muriel Oddenino.
They were all experienced divers, but when they ventured underwater to explore the Vaavu Atoll caves, they never resurfaced. The bodies of all five people were later found, but not, let a post on X, there are some conspiracies about what happened.
The diving excursion resulted in an additional death.
@bbcnews The incident is believed to be the deadliest single diving accident in the Maldives, a popular tourist destination known for its coral islands. #Maldives #Italian #Diving #ScubaDiving #Rescue #BBCNews ♬ original sound – BBC News
At first, only the instructor’s body was found. Later, after divers went on a recovery mission to find the other members of the group, the bodies of the remaining four people were found. According to the BBC, the weather at the time was described to be in the yellow zone for the water. This means possible down currents could have contributed to the divers’ inability to swim back up from the depths they had reached.
Staff Sgt. Mohamed Mahdhee also died while on a search mission for the divers. And, after the remaining bodies were found, the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter).
“The bodies of four missing divers has been located inside the Vaavu atoll cave on a joint search & recovery operation conducted by MNDF CG, @PoliceMv, & a team of experts arranged by the Italian Government,” the statement said on May 18, 2026. “Further dives to be carried out in the coming days to recover the bodies.”
People have theories about what happened.
They weren’t cave diving. They were experienced recreational divers but there’s a max depth of 30metres in the Maldives. The cave is at 60metres and they were never trying to dive that.
— 💙🏆⭐️⭐️ Dubz (@retiredpornstar) May 17, 2026
This was likely strong down currents caused by a crescent shaped atoll.
Took one or all of…
Now, with the divers’ deaths and the death of the first diver who searched for the group, there are some theories.
“This was likely strong down currents caused by a crescent shaped atoll,” someone posted on X. “Took one or all of them down. Maybe they attempted a rescue. If they were on Nitrox then maybe past their max operating depth. If they got pulled down deep, maybe they ran out of air.”
Another theory suggested that the divers panicked when they swam to another chamber in the caves and couldn’t find the way out. Then, they ran out of oxygen. No theory is without truly sad ideas about what happened to the divers and why most of their bodies were found in a tight cave off of a larger one.
Another person wrote, “The Venturi Effect seems to be the most plausible cause to me.”
This refers to a drop of pressure and a feeling almost like a suction. This theory means the divers would have been inadvertently pulled to another area of the cave, possibly the small third cave where most of their bodies were found.
Experienced divers are trained to make sure they have proper oxygen tanks, enough oxygen for the depths they plan to dive, and the right training so they swim back up to the surface steadily and safely. Decompression sickness, per Harvard Health, happens when there is a quick decrease in the pressure surrounding a diver. If they move too quickly I’m trying to get to the surface, the nitrogen they are breathing in through the compressed air oxygen tank can form bubbles in the blood and cause decompression sickness, or “the bends.”
A local expert believes he knows what happened.
The caves that the group was exploring reach a depth of 165 feet. According to former Maldives National Defence Force diver Shafraz Naeem, though, the group made the decision to explore as much as they did and, per his own assessment, they were not “sucked” into the third smaller cave through a current.
“I have visited those caves countless times. There is no current,” he told Daily Mail. “They swam into that third cave. They chose to go in there.”
The former fiver added, “One possibility is the instructor intentionally swam away from the group. Maybe he was running out of air. The rest of the group died in that third chamber and Benedetti died in the passageway trying to get out.”
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