An eerie video captures the final hours of the Maldivian Coast Guard diver who died Saturday during a dangerous mission to recover the bodies of the Italian tourists trapped in a deep underwater cave.
Sgt. Major Mohamed Mahudhee was filmed on Friday standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the nation’s President, Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, as the elite crew of rescuers pored over the day’s plan to find the victims’ remains.
Mahudhee was on board the boat that towed Muizzu to the site of the tragedy so he could observe the eight-person task force clear the cave’s second chamber, before bad weather forced the crew to pack up early.
The crew worked in shifts to locate the missing Italians.
Mahudhee, a member of the Maldivian National Defense Force, entered the water Saturday with the goal of exploring the cave’s third and final chamber, but became ill during the excursion.
He was rushed to the hospital, where he died, officials said.
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His cause of death is underwater decompression sickness, officials said, which is the formation of gas bubbles in the blood and tissues typically caused when a diver rises too quickly from the depths.
“His courage, sacrifice, and service to the nation will always be remembered. Our deepest condolences to his family and colleagues,” the military wrote on X.
Mahudhee’s death “goes to show the difficulty of the mission,” said Maldives Presidential Spokesman Mohammed Hussain Shareef.
Five Italian scuba divers were killed this week when they plunged 160 feet into an underwater cave.
The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is just under 100 feet.
Only the body of Gianluca Benedetti, of Padua, has been recovered.
The remains of Monica Montefalcone, a marine biology professor at the University of Genoa, and her 20-year-old daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, as well as Muriel Oddenino of Turin and Federico Gualtieri of Borgomanero, are still missing.
The Italian Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, said everything possible would be done to bring the victims home and that his ministry was coordinating with the Divers Alert Network, a specialist diving organization.
