Did an underwater cave illusion lead five Maldives divers to their deaths?
Finnish experts called in to recover the missing tourists believe they may have solved the mystery behind the tragedy.
Fininsh underwater experts who recovered the bodies of five missing Italian divers last week believe they may have solved the mystery behind the Maldives cave tragedy.
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The five Italians had been attempting to explore a series of underwater caves at a depth of around 50 metres (165 ft) but failed to resurface on Thursday.
The bodies of all the scuba divers have now been located after a frantic search.
A team of Finnish experts who were called in to recover the missing tourists have developed a theory behind how the divers may have met their tragic end.
The pro-divers, working under the Dan Europe research organisation, have suggested that the tourists could have taken a wrong turn while attempting to navigate out of the shark infested cave in the Devana Kandu cave system.
Read more: Two more bodies recovered from Maldives cave as operation to retrieve Italian divers continues
The experts discovered the bodies of the divers in a tunnel with a dead end inside the Thinwana Kandu cave.
The company's CEO Laura Marroni told Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper that "there was no way out" from the tunnel where the divers were discovered.
She explained the layout of the cave system, which begins with a large, very bright chamber with a sandy floor.
At the end of this section is a poorly lit corridor, about 30 metres in length and 3 metres wide, but with good visibility from artificial lighting.
That corridor leads to a second large and round chamber with no natural light.
Between the corridor and the chamber there is reportedly a sand bank.
The Finns said it would have been easy for the divers to reach the chamber without seeing the sand bank.
However once they tried to leave the chamber, the sand bank would have looked like a wall, the Italian newspaper said.
This could have blocked the exit out of the chamber.
There is said to be another tunnel to the left of the sand bank just a few metres in length which is a dead end.
The four Italians were discovered inside this chamber “as if they had mistaken it for the right one”, the newspaper said.
They would have had very little time to return if they took that turn by accident, it reported.
Marroni said the divers are believed to have been using standard tanks which would have only given them a maximum of "10 minutes" to explore the second cave.
“Realising that the path is the wrong one and having little air, perhaps after going back and forth, is terrifying," she said.
“Then you breathe quickly, and the air supply decreases.”
Local authorities are now investigating why the divers were allowed to plunge nearly 200ft underwater - exceeding local limits.
The lawyer representing the Italian tour operator which managed the diving trip denied authorising or knowing about the deep dive, the publication Corriere della Sera reported. An investigation is underway to establish the cause of death.
The initial search was suspended after local military diver Sergeant Major Mohammed Mahdi died during a perilous mission to try to reach them.
Last Thursday, Mr Benedetti's body was found near the mouth of the deep cave.
A search for the bodies was halted on Friday due to poor weather but the mission resumed on Saturday.
The incident was the worst single diving accident in the Maldives, according to officials.
Italian media reported that the divers were reported missing at around 1.45pm by the crew of the vessel they were travelling on.
The body of one of the divers was found in a cave about 60 metres deep, the other tourists were also believed to have been in the cave, which is about 200 feet long.
Further assistance was sent to try and support the rescue in what the MNDF described as a "very high risk dangerous operation".
Sergeant Major Mahdi, who was one of eight divers in the rescue mission, died after falling ill on the third day of recovery operations in Vaavu Atoll.
The Maldivian military wrote on X: "His courage, sacrifice, and service to the nation will always be remembered. Our deepest condolences to his family and colleagues.
"Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani said: "These painful days for itIaly are even worse after news that a courageous serviceman, Sergeant Mohammed Mahdi, died following an attempt to reach the bodies of our countrymen.
"This tragedy has united Italy and the Maldives in our sorrow and respect for the victims."