Finnish divers will try to recover 2 of the dead Italians from an underwater cave in the Maldives

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MALE, Maldives (AP) — Three Finnish divers on Tuesday will attempt to recover the bodies of two of the four Italians who died deep inside an underwater cave in an atoll in the Maldives, five days after they were reported missing. The bodies were located on Monday, when searches resumed after being suspended following the death of a local military diver during a perilous mission to try to reach them. The Italian divers went missing on Thursday.Maldives government spokesman Ahmed Shaam said that the three divers will retrieve the bodies, which are lying at a depth of around 60 meters (200 feet), which is up to 30 meters (nearly 100 feet) from where the Maldives coast guard will eventually take over and hand them over to police closer to the surface.The legal depth for recreational diving in the Maldives is 30 meters (nearly 100 feet).

The government of the Indian Ocean island nation on Monday said that the bodies were spotted in the innermost part of the cave by three Finnish diving experts, supported by the Maldives police and the military.“As was previously thought, the four bodies were found inside the cave, not only inside the cave, but well inside the cave into the third segment of the cave, which is the largest part,” Shaam said.