The man who lost his wife and daughter in the scuba diving tragedy that took place last week in the Maldives has broken his silence.
The deaths of at least five Italian divers in a scuba diving accident last Thursday in Vaavu Atoll, in the Indian Ocean archipelago, has shocked the world. Authorities were reportedly alerted to the group’s disappearance at around 1:45 p.m. local time, with an urgent search operation immediately launched.
As the tragic mystery continues to unfold, a Maldivian military rescue diver also died from decompression sickness during a recovery mission.
The five divers who lost their lives included University of Genoa marine biology professor Monica Montefalcone and her 20-year-old daughter Giorgia Sommacal. The other victims have been named as Muriel Oddenino, Gianluca Benedetti, and Federico Gualtieri.
Italy’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “The divers are reported to have died while attempting to explore caves at a depth of 50 metres [164 feet].”
Now, the husband of Professor Montefalcone — and father of Sommacal — has spoken out, questioning how five divers could have died on the trip.
Despite various experts criticizing the decision to dive so deep, Carlo Sommacal told Italian newspaper La Repubblica that his wife “would never have put the life of our daughter or other kids at risk.”
Speaking to The Times, he added: “My only certainty is that my wife is one of the best scuba divers on the face of the earth.”
In a third interview with the Associated Press, Sommacal said: “Something must have happened.”
Pulmonologist Claudio Micheletto told Italian news agency Adnkronos: “It’s likely that something went wrong with the tanks.”
He continued: “Death from oxygen toxicity, or hyperoxia, is one of the most dramatic deaths that can occur during a dive — a horrible end.”
Officials have stated that the area where the group was diving — around 60 miles south of Malé, the capital of the Maldives — had been experiencing volatile weather. Adverse conditions meant recovery efforts were temporarily suspended on Friday due to rough seas.
Reportedly, the Vaavu Atoll cave diving disaster ranks as the deadliest single diving incident in the history of the Maldives. Experts have suggested possible causes, including oxygen toxicity and panic inside the underwater cave system.
