Worlds best divers in race against time to recover bodies of Maldives tourists before sharks get to them
An elite squad of divers is in a race against time to recover the final bodies of the five Italians who died in Thursday’s tragic incident in the Maldives — hoping they can reach their remains before the sharks do.Only the body of the doomed group’s diving instructor has been found so far — while a Maldivian military rescue diver perished during the previous search for the other missing divers.The crack newly assembled European team, including three top divers from Finland, is set to resume the mission to recover the remaining four bodies from inside the treacherous network of underwater caves Monday.The team, assembled and dispatched by Divers Alert Network Europe, includes Sami Paakkarinen and Patrik Gronqvist, who previously successfully recovered surviving divers from a 2014 incident in Norway.Some of the group also took part in 2018’s successful rescue of a Thai youth soccer team trapped in a cave.“We’ll bring [the victims’ bodies] back.We can’t leave them at the mercy of the sharks.
We need experts here,” DAN Europe CEO Laura Marroni told Italian newspaper La Stampa.With the divers disappearing after going 200 feet underwater, speed is of the essence, Marroni warned.“Unfortunately, in warm waters, even if we don’t know exactly what fauna is in the cave, we can’t rule out the risk of predators like sharks or environmental impacts,” she said.“During past recoveries, the worst happened.So every hour that passes is crucial,” Marroni said.The elite rescuers have experience of diving to depths of nearly 500 feet, giving them options traditional divers don’t have.“We offered our decades of experience and selected the best and most experienced divers immediately available: the Finnish team,” Marroni said.“We are talking about people among the most competent in the world for these operations,” she said.The team arrived in the Maldives capital, Male, on Sunday, hours after the death of the Maldivian search diver, Sgt.
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