Last words of Italian marine biologist who died in Maldives scuba tragedy revealed
The last words of one of the marine biologists who died in a scuba diving accident in the Maldives were a tribute to the lifelong passion that ultimately cost her life.Monica Montefalcone was among the five Italians vanished during a deep-water dive and presumed trapped inside a cave 200 feet underwater in the Indian Ocean island nation Thursday — in what officials called the single worst diving accident the idyllic nation has ever seen.“It is fundamental to observe the underwater environment — which remains far too unknown to the general public — whether with our own eyes or through the lens of a robot,” Montefalcone wrote to a colleague Wednesday night around 10:15 pm, a few hours before the fatal dive.Montefalcone, 51, an award-winning researcher from the University of Genoa in Italy, was on a work trip to the Maldives to monitor the effects of climate change on tropical biodiversity.An experienced diver, she travelled with her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, 22, a student at the university, and research fellow Muriel Oddenino, 31 — who both died in the dive.“The only certainty I have is that my wife is among the best divers on the face of the earth,” Montefalcone’s husband Carlo Sommacal told La Republica.
“She’s never been a reckless person.”“She would have never jeopardized the life of our daughter or any other young people.”The others were Federico Gualtieri, 31, a marine biology master’s graduate from the university, who wrote his thesis on coral diversity in the Maldives, and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, 44, a former banker who moved to the Maldives eight years ago to pursue his passion to dive.Only one body, that of Benedetti’s, has been recovered inside the cave near the Vaavu Atoll.Rescuers found him around 6:15 p.m.
Thursday, before they had to come up, and the weather turned, halting the search.The other four bodies are believed to be inside the cave, according to local authorities.The weather was too bad Fr...