MARITIME MYSTERY

Theory on How Five Divers Drowned in Cave Emerges

Investigators are working on a new explanation for the incident in which five ecological researchers met a watery end.

Investigators in the Maldives are beginning to develop a theory for the tragic incident that saw five Italian researchers die during a dive into a deepwater cave earlier this month. Authorities say one of the explanations they’re looking into is that the group may have gone much deeper into the submarine passage than they had expected or planned for. A spokesperson for the Maldivian president’s office said the team had been granted permits for soft coral research, and that “what we didn’t know was that it was cave diving.” The spokesperson further said that cave diving is “a very different discipline with its own set of challenges and risks involved.” Leading the dive was celebrated marine ecologist Monica Montefalcone, whose daughter accompanied her and the others. Carlo Sommocal, Montefalcone’s husband, has suggested that the latest theory cannot be accurate because his wife was “always conscientious” and “never reckless.” Only one body has been recovered so far in what Reuters describes as “the single deadliest incident in the country’s diving history.”