The bodies of two Italian divers missing for days in the Maldives have been recovered in a search operation that reveals dangerous gaps in oversight of isolated luxury resorts. Sources confirm the victims, a 44-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, were last seen on a recreational dive near the exclusive Coco Palm Dhuni Kolhu resort on Baa Atoll. Local fishermen discovered the bodies 12 nautical miles from the dive site, raising questions about the resort's safety protocols and the effectiveness of the initial search.
Dive operators at the resort, which markets itself as a 'paradise for water sports', failed to notice the divers' absence for three hours. By then, currents had carried them into open ocean. The Maldivian Coast Guard launched a formal search only after the resort manager called for help 18 hours after the divers failed to return.
Documents uncovered by this newsroom show that the resort's diving concessionaire, AquaMaldives, had been cited for safety violations twice in the past year. One citation from the Maldives Transport Authority noted 'failure to maintain proper buddy-check logs' and 'inadequate emergency communication equipment'. The company paid a fine of $2,500 and continued operations.
The victims' families have demanded a full investigation into the sequence of events. Their lawyer, Maria De Luca, told this reporter: 'These are not random acts of nature. This is negligence dressed up as paradise.' De Luca plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit against both the resort and the dive operator, citing failure to provide GPS tracking devices or deploy a search within the critical golden window.
Maldives tourism officials have attempted to downplay the incident, calling it a 'tragic but isolated case'. But officials in Male who spoke off the record confirmed that at least five diving deaths have occurred in the atolls since 2020, none of which resulted in any sanction or reform.
The bodies have been transferred to a hospital in Male for autopsy. Meanwhile, the British Foreign Office has issued a travel advisory urging caution for diving activities in remote Maldivian resorts.
For now, the families wait. And the resort's white sand beaches remain unblemished. But the bodies tell a story of a system that prioritises profit above all else. A system where a dive operator's violation is a cost of doing business. A system where visitors become statistics.
