Culpable homicide investigation launched in fatal Maldives cave-diving expedition: Prosecutors
Five divers died while exploring an underwater cave in the Maldives.
Two investigations, including a culpable homicide probe, have been launched into the deep-water cave expedition in the Maldives that claimed the lives of five Italian scuba divers, according to officials in the Maldives and in Rome.
Both the Maldives government and prosecutors in Rome announced the investigations as the remains of two more divers were recovered from an underwater cave in the Indian Ocean.
In addition to the probe by the Maldives government, prosecutors in Rome have opened a culpable homicide investigation into the tragedy, sources told the Italian news agency ANSA.
Mohamed Hussain Shareef, a spokesperson for the Maldives president's office, said the investigation by the Maldives government will focus on whether those in charge of the fatal expedition "took the correct precautions" and underwent the necessary planning.
"We believe that the retrieval of the bodies will itself reveal a lot, as far as that part of the investigation is concerned," said Shareef, according to The Associated Press. "But that doesn’t take from the fact that cave diving in itself is very, very dangerous.”
Shareef said the scuba-diving group -- which was led by Monica Montefalcone, a marine researcher and an associate professor of ecology at the University of Genoa -- had been issued a permit for the diving expedition.
"While they had a permit, there are certain gaps in the research proposal," Shareef said.
He said the Maldives government was not informed that the group would be exploring an underwater cave.
"We didn't know the exact location they were diving," Shareef said.
He said two of the divers who died were not on the list of researchers that organizers had submitted.
"So we didn't know they were part of the expedition as well. So, all these factors are being reviewed," Shareef said.
Shareef said the scuba diving group was on an excursion he described as "very, very challenging" due to the depth, terrain, powerful current and strong draft in the area of the dive.
"The visibility, for example, once you enter the cave, would be almost zero; that’s what we are being told," Shareef said.
The divers went missing on Thursday while exploring a cave in Vaavu Atoll, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.
A Maldives military diver died on Saturday while working to recover the bodies of victims, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.
Officials called the recovery effort a "very dangerous, high-risk operation." The search was suspended at one point on Friday due to bad weather, the AP reported.
The Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and the University of Genoa identified the deceased divers as Montefalcone; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, a University of Genoa biomedical engineering student; Muriel Oddenino, a University of Genoa research fellow; and marine biologist Federico Gualtieri, a recent University of Genoa graduate in marine biology and ecology.
The institute also identified one of the victims as diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.
The Maldives government said three of the bodies have been recovered. On Tuesday, a Finnish diving team retrieved two bodies from the third chamber of a deep-water cave, Shareef said.
Shareef said the identities of the two recovered divers are pending autopsies. But Antonello Riccio, an attorney for Gualtieri's family, confirmed that the remains of Montefalcone and Gualtieri were recovered on Tuesday.
Ahmed Shaam, another spokesperson for the Maldives government, said the bodies were found lying at a depth of around 200 feet. The legal depth for recreational diving in the Maldives is nearly 100 feet, officials said.
The Maldives government said on Monday that four bodies were spotted in the innermost part of the cave by the Finnish diving team. Divers are expected to return to the cave on Wednesday to recover the two remaining bodies.
"As was previously thought, the four bodies were found inside the cave, not only inside the cave, but well inside the cave into the third segment of the cave, which is the largest part," Shaam said.
He said that the four bodies were found "pretty much together."
Earlier in the recovery operation, the body of the diving instructor who was part of the lost group was recovered outside the cave, Maldives government officials said.
ABC News' Othon Leyva, Phoebe Natanson and Clark Bentson contributed to this report.
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