The Maldives’ Coast Guard has begun diving operations to retrieve the bodies of the four Italian divers missing in last Thursday’s scuba accident. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani is in contact with the Italian Ambassador to Colombo, Damiano Francovigh (responsible for the Maldives), and the Honorary Consul in Malè, Giorgia Marazzi, who are aboard the Coast Guard’s support vessel “Ghazee” to oversee the recovery operations.
Minister Tajani has instructed the Foreign Ministry to monitor the recovery of the bodies and to provide assistance to the families of the missing scuba divers and to the Italian nationals who shall now return to Italy. At his request, the Maldivian police will make available a team to provide psychological support to the Italian nationals involved. The “Duke of York,” the yacht carrying the 25 Italian tourists, including the five missing scuba divers, has just reached the capital, Malé.
Eight Maldivian divers are currently at sea taking turns in operations. The first two have already dived to locate and precisely mark the entrance point to the series of caves where the Italian scuba divers disappeared. Six more divers will subsequently dive in shifts to attempt to locate the bodies and bring them to the surface.
