Italian divers who drowned in Maldives may have made tragic mistake: ‘There was no way out’

The five Italian divers who drowned in the Maldives last Thursday may have taken a wrong turn and panicked when in an underwater cave with no clear way out, according to the elite squad sent in to retrieve their bodies.

The bodies of Monica Montefalcone, 52, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, 20, Muriel Oddenino, 31, and Federico Gualtieri, 31, were found on Monday near the mouth of the third and final chamber of the caves in the Vaavu Atoll, at a depth of around 165 feet.

The body of their diving instructor, Gianluca Benedetti, 44, was found near the entrance to the same chamber.

The cave system includes a first chamber connected to a second by a corridor about 100 feet long and 10 feet wide, reported Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

Once in the second chamber, the entrance to the corridor is hidden by a sandbank, and just above that is the entrance to