It has been revealed that a police rescue diving team, working alongside military personnel, recovered the body of Staff Sergeant Mohamed Mahdhee after he went missing during an operation to locate missing Italian tourists in a deep underwater cave in Vaavu Atoll.
According to the Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF), Mahdhee, who was among the Coast Guard’s most experienced divers, passed away after being medically evacuated to Male’ yesterday when his condition deteriorated during the dive.
Briefing international media on the incident, Chief Government Spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef (Mundhu) stated that Mahdhee’s absence was only noticed after the rest of the diving team surfaced.
"Eight rescue divers went into the water today. When they surfaced, they realised Mr Mahdhee didn't come up," the BBC quoted Mundhu as saying.
Because the military divers had just completed a deep-sea ascent, they were physically unable to submerge again immediately to search for him. A team of four police divers participating in the operation conducted the dive to retrieve Mahdhee from the depths. Mundhu confirmed these details to Adhadhu.
Following Mahdhee’s death, the search operation for the four Italian tourists, believed to be trapped inside the cave, has been temporarily suspended.
Shareef noted that the military is currently coordinating a new operational plan with a team of expert divers from Finland who arrived in the Maldives today.
The Finnish experts, renowned for their proficiency in high-stakes cave rescue operations, were deployed through the mediation of the Italian government.
