The first photos from inside the doomed Maldives cave system where five Italian divers died have now been released by the team that recovered their bodies.The group of divers set off to explore deep-sea caverns in the Vaavu Atoll last Thursday, but never resurfaced. For the first time, images published by diving organisation Dan Europe show the narrow underwater passages where the Italian divers perished, with light quickly fading into near-total darkness.Clouds of disturbed coral sediment can also be seen hanging in the water, illustrating how visibility can rapidly disappear inside the cramped tunnels.Sharing the pictures on social media, Dan Europe described how the series of images 'documents the more confined inner sections of the cave, where visibility can rapidly disappear due to disturbed coral sediment and navigation becomes more complex. 'These are the environments where the rescue team operated during the search [and] recovery mission over the past days.'It added: 'Natural light still filters through the entrance before the system descends into darkness.' The group of five who tragically lost their lives included Monica Montefalcone, a marine biology professor with many years of experience; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal; two young researchers, Federico Gualtieri and Muriel Oddenino; and their Maldives-based guide, Gianluca Benedetti. The first photos from inside the doomed Maldives cave system where five Italian divers died have now been released by the organisation involved in the expedition Images published by DAN Europe show the eerie underwater passages where visibility vanished as rescuers searched for the trapped group Sharing the pictures on Instagram , the diving organisation said: 'Natural light still filters through the entrance before the system descends into darkness' 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 The body of diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti was found near the mouth of the Thinwana Kandu cave on the day the divers disappeared Images published by Dan Europe show the narrow underwater passages where the divers' bodies were found, with light quickly fading into near-total darknessBenedetti's body was found near the mouth of the Thinwana Kandu cave on the day the divers disappeared, while the remaining four bodies were located in the cavern's third and final chamber on Monday at a depth of around 165ft.Mystery has clouded the tragedy, which has been called the worst diving incident in the island nation, as investigators try to determine how the group of experienced scuba divers met their fate. A member of the expert diving team that recovered the bodies this week has suggested that the group of Italian divers were not wearing the right equipment for their sea-cave exploration. Pro diver Sami Paakkarinen told La Repubblica on Friday: 'The equipment we found them with wasn't optimal. They weren't using underwater caving gear.'He added: 'Many dives have been made to those depths, even with recreational gear, but combined with that depth and the cave environment, the time they would have had was very limited...They could have surfaced safely, but they were short on time.'It comes as the Finnish diving team, who recovered the bodies, suggested yesterday that the Italian divers may have taken the wrong tunnel on their way out of an underwater cave.The Italian divers were found in a corridor with a dead-end inside the cave complex, Italy's daily newspaper La Repubblica reported.'There was no way out from there,' Dan Europe's CEO, Laura Marroni, was quoted by La Repubblica as saying.The Finnish divers found the cave near Alimatha begins with a first large, very bright cavern with a sandy bottom, Marroni told the newspaper.At the end of this room is a corridor where there is little light, but 'visibility, using artificial lighting, was excellent', she said.The corridor is almost 100ft long and 10ft across and leads to a second chamber of the cave, which is a large, round space with no natural light.Between the corridor and the second chamber is a sandbank.It is easy to get over the sandbank into the second chamber, but when you turn around to leave again, the bank almost looks like a wall, hiding the corridor, La Repubblica reported.On the left of the sandbank is another corridor.'The divers' bodies were all found inside, as if they had mistaken it for the right one,' Marroni told the paper.If they had taken that corridor by mistake, 'then it would have been very difficult to return, especially with the limited air supply', Marroni said.The divers were using standard tanks, meaning that, at that depth, they had very little time to visit the second cave, she said. Monica Montefalcone, 51, who died, was a respected marine biologist, TV personality and professor of Tropical Marine Ecology and Underwater Science at the University of Genoa Montefalcone's daugter, Giorgia, is among the five divers who died Researcher Muriel Oddenino's body was recovered from a deep-sea cave on Wednesday Gianluca Benedetti, 44, was a diving instructor. His body was the first to be found last week Federico Gualtieri, 31, was a researcher and diver among the five who died in the Maldives last week 'We're talking about 10 minutes, maybe even less,' Marroni added.'Realising that the path is the wrong one and having little air, perhaps after going back and forth, is terrifying. Then you breathe quickly, and the air supply decreases,' she said.The Finnish team consisted of three divers: one tasked with recovering the bodies, the second with operational safety support, and the third documenting the recovery and dive site.The 'highly trained' divers 'conducted an extensive reconnaissance with us, and developed a conservative dive plan, considering that no one knew the cave well', Marroni said.'This type of operation always involves a great deal of responsibility, emotional toll, and a strong desire to return bodies to their families,' she said.The team recovered the bodies on Tuesday and Wednesday.One of the divers, 54-year-old Patrik Gronqvist, told AFP by telephone that they 'had started to see some traces on the bottom, as if there had been some kind of activity', leading them to find all four bodies in a pitch-black hole in the cave.'The bodies were here and there,' within an area of seven to 10ft, he said.'Three were on the floor (of the cave) and one in the roof.'Gronqvist said the mission had not been as 'technically challenging' as previous operations he has been involved in.