«The bodies were all together in one portion of the cave. We were very relieved when we found them because we had been a long time on the first dive without spotting them and were starting to think they were no longer there. There was therefore relief thinking that we would have recovered them and brought them to the surface.”
Sami Paakkarinen, the Finnish diver who, together with colleagues Jenni Westerlund and Patrik Grönqvist, recovered the bodies of the four Italians who died in the Maldives cave, told ANSA. The team was activated by the organization Dan Europe.
«The cave – explained the subspeleologist – is very deep, 60 metres; it is not very long, about 200 metres, but it is very demanding. We have explored longer and deeper ones, every cave is a risky environment but I would define this one as very challenging.”
Having verified the characteristics of the underwater cavity, Sami continued, «the priority was the safety of us divers. We didn’t want any accidents to happen during the recovery of the bodies.” The team does not comment on what happened to the group of Italians who were trapped in a ravine in the second room of the cave. They probably got lost as they were unable to take the corridor to return from the second to the first room, the one open to the outside. And they ran out of air in the 12 liter cylinders, suitable for recreational diving. The Finnish expert therefore has a recommendation to make to the Maldivian government: «It must take what happened seriously. Recreational and technical diving needs to be well defined and information shared, which is the best way to prevent these incidents. So we need to map the cave, give the correct information and request that the dive must be done with the right equipment and the right training to ensure it is safe.”