Mohamed Mahodhi, who was searching for divers who drowned in the Maldives, also died.
The toll from a diving tragedy in the Maldives rose after authorities reported that a Maldivian diver searching for the bodies of the five Italian tourists killed earlier this week in the underwater lagoon had also died.
Sergeant Mohamed Mahudhi fell ill during the third day of recovery operations on Faafu Atoll, according to The Sun, which translated the Maldivian Army’s X publication.“His courage, sacrifice and service to the nation will always be remembered. Our deepest condolences to his family and colleagues,” the Army reportedly said, according to the newspaper.Mahudi was one of eight divers deployed to find the bodies of Monica Montefalconi, a professor of marine biology at the University of Genoa, and her 20-year-old daughter Giorgia Somakal, who disappeared while diving 160 feet into the lower cave.Torino’s Muriel Audinino, Padua’s Gianluca Benedetti and Borgomanero’s Federico Gualtieri also failed to resurface from the fatal fall.Officials said only Benedetti’s body was recovered.The divers’ cause of death is still under investigation, although some experts have hypothesized that oxygen toxicity and extreme panic are possible factors that led to the deaths of the five divers.
“Something must have happened… my wife is one of the best divers.”
Montefalconi’s husband, Carlo Somakal, raised suspicions that “something had happened” in the cave, saying his wife, a professor at the University of Genoa, was too experienced a diver to risk it.
He told La Repubblica newspaper on Friday: “The only thing I am certain of is that my wife is among the best divers on the face of the earth. She has always been on her conscience. She would not have put our daughter’s life” or the lives of others with her in danger.“Something must have happened there,” said the retired scientist. He added: “Maybe someone got into trouble, maybe with the oxygen cylinders, I have no idea. But I’m ready to swear anything about Monica’s behavior.”
Oxygen toxicity behind death?
Although the cause of death has not yet been confirmed, experts suspect oxygen poisoning occurs when too much oxygen becomes dangerous. Humans are designed to breathe air that contains about 21% oxygen. But when someone breathes oxygen in unusually high concentrations or under extreme pressure for too long, it can become toxic to the body, according to UMass Memorial Health.This happens because excess oxygen creates an overload of unstable molecules known as “free radicals.” Normally, the body can neutralize them with antioxidants. But when too much of it builds up too quickly, it begins to damage cells and tissues.
