Italian post-mortem examinations have confirmed what many feared after one of the Maldives' worst diving accidents: the five Italian divers who died at Devana Kandu in Vaavu Atoll in May simply ran out of air. The findings, filed by consultants from the Busto Arsizio Public Prosecutor's Office in early October, gave anoxia — oxygen deprivation — as the cause of death and ruled out several theories that circulated in the weeks after the tragedy.
The group — University of Genoa ecology professor Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, researcher Muriel Oddenino and recent graduate Federico Gualtieri — failed to surface from a dive on 14 May. Their guide, Italian instructor and boat operations manager Gianluca Benedetti, was found the same day at around 55m in the cave's first chamber. The four others were located three days later by a Finnish technical diving team, in a dead-end tunnel leading off a second chamber some 60m deep, reachable only through a narrow passage. A Maldivian rescue diver, Staff Sergeant Mohamed Mahudhee of the MNDF Coast Guard, also died during the search.
Toxicology tests found no contaminated air, drugs or alcohol, and the autopsies showed no serious injuries — closing off speculation about shark attacks or venom. What remains unanswered is why the group was inside the deep cave at all. Recreational divers in the Maldives are limited to roughly half that depth, and cave diving requires specialist training the group did not have.
The Finnish recovery team offered a plausible explanation after surveying the site. Devana Kandu's main chamber opens at about 50-55m, with a deeper second chamber at 60-70m behind a narrow tunnel. Its exit is partly hidden behind a sand bank, and the Finns believe the divers entered the dead-end tunnel mistaking it for the way out — then exhausted their gas. Unconfirmed reports suggest the cave was a regular stop on local trips, a spot where sharks shelter during the monsoon, with divers popping in briefly before ascending.
The divers were carrying GoPros, and their footage plus laptops and phones remain with investigators. Families are still waiting for those analyses; Gualtieri's lawyer, Antonello Riccio, told La Stampa that answers may only come once the autopsy data is cross-referenced with the camera footage.
For anyone booking a liveaboard or dive trip in the Maldives, the story is a stark reminder to check depth limits, guide requirements and what exactly a 'cave' or 'thila' dive involves before jumping in — especially at atolls like Vaavu, where dramatic channels and overhangs are part of the appeal.
