A mission to recover the dead bodies of four Italians who drowned in an underwater cave off the Maldives ended in death for a diver from the small Indian Ocean archipelago nation’s military on Saturday, the AP reports with details that will probably just kind of piss you off even more.
The death toll is actually now six as the body of one of the five Italians, diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, was recovered near the entrance of the cave on Friday. The other four were , University of Genoa ecology Professor Monica Montefalcone and her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, marine biologist Federico Gualtieri, and researcher Muriel Oddenino. Montefalcone and Oddenio were conducting climate change research in the Maldives and had contracted with a tour operator running a larger diving excursion. However the deadly dive to a cave 160 ft below the surface near the Vaavu Atoll was neither okayed with the tour operator nor part of the research itinerary.
Italian-based Albatros Top Boat said any dive of more than about 100 ft requires special permission from the Maldivian government and they wouldn’t have even bothered trying to file the paperwork if the five had asked, especially into a fucking cave at that depth. Yet they went on their own, letting the ocean have the last word, not even having the courtesy to email someone, anyone first just to say please don’t risk anyone else’s life trying to recover the fish food we leave behind.
Maldivian National Defense Force diver Mohamed Mahudhee made it back to the surface but died of the bends in a hospital in the small country’s capital of Male, likely in excruciating pain because of these arrogant fucking assholes, his life and all the public resources spent training him written off as a loss leader for the tiny nation’s tourism industry. He knew the risks, they’ll say. Such an end was already priced in for him when they trained him on how to rescue civilians trapped in an air pocket under a capsized fishing boat or attach an explosive to a terrorist group’s assault vessel.
And diving down to an unmapped cave system 160 ft underwater to recover the bodies of four Italians who were not supposed to be there. That was a risk Maldivian leadership were willing to take and, if they’d had advance warning of the recovery op, the Italian Foreign Ministry didn’t protest.
In conclusion, certain adults should stop acting like fucking teenagers and the Maldivian government should act less goddamned thirsty to satisfy the impossible and pointless needs of tourists.