Finnish divers recover bodies of Italian tourists after fatal cave diving accident on Maldives

Three Finnish technical divers, including Helsinki rescue worker Patrik Grönqvist, were called in to retrieve the bodies of four Italian tourists who died in a cave diving accident on the Maldives’ Vaavu Atoll last week, Grönqvist told Finnish broadcaster Yle.

The Italians—a 51-year-old marine biology professor, his 20-year-old daughter, and two other researchers—entered an underwater cave with its entrance at 55 meters, descending to depths of 60–70 meters in an area where the legal recreational diving limit is 30 meters. Grönqvist described their deaths as the result of “every imaginable mistake.”

The group lacked proper technical diving gear, relying instead on standard recreational equipment. Two wore only bikinis with thin neoprene tops, while the others had lightweight wetsuits. None used a guideline, the fundamental safety measure in cave diving. Without it, they became disoriented in the silty tunnel, their air supplies depleting until all four died in a confined space.

Grönqvist, Sami Paakkarinen, and Jenni Westerlund flew to the Maldives within hours of the call, arriving as local authorities—who had already lost one rescuer attempting retrieval with inadequate equipment—were still struggling to recover the bodies. The Finns located the victims in a dead-end tunnel just minutes before their own air reserves would have forced them to surface.

“Relief when we found them was huge,” Grönqvist said. “The whole world was waiting for the outcome.”

A local Italian guide, found deceased near the cave entrance, had accompanied the group. Maldivian authorities continue to investigate the incident.