A Maldivian military diver died on Saturday during the high-risk operation to recover the bodies of five Italian scuba divers from a deep underwater cave in Vaavu atoll, the Maldives' worst diving accident. Staff Sergeant Mohamed Mahudhee, 44, suffered decompression sickness during the dive and was pronounced dead at ADK Hospital. The recovery operation has been suspended. Mahudhee was one of the country's most capable rescue divers, with thousands of dives over his career including operations at 70 metres. He had been leading the rescue operation. Eight officers took part in Saturday's dive. According to the BBC, citing government spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef, Mahudhee was found unconscious underwater after the team had surfaced and realised he was missing. Mahudhee had been part of the team that briefed President Muizzu on the recovery plan when he visited the search site on Friday, accompanied by Homeland Security Minister Ali Ihusan, Foreign Minister Iruthisham Adam, Tourism Minister Mohamed Ameen and government spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef. The president conveyed his condolences to Italian President Sergio Mattarella and the people of Italy.
Sergeant First Class Mohamed Mahudhee was buried with full military honours at Aasahara cemetery on Saturday night, MNDF said. President Muizzu, who is also the commander-in-chief, Defence Minister Hassan Rasheed, Chief of Defence Force Major General Ibrahim Hilmy and Vice Chief Brigadier General Ahmed Ghiyas attended the funeral prayers at the Islamic Centre. Soldiers mounted a guard of honour beside the casket, carried the coffin from the prayer hall and presented the national flag to Mahudhee's family before burial. A seven-gun salute was fired and the military flag was lowered to half-mast for 48 hours. Mahudhee had served 20 years, four months and 27 days in the military. A senior diver in the Coast Guard's diving unit, his qualifications included open water diving, ship diver, dive master, rescue and salvage command, and vessel boarding search and seizure training; he served as an instructor on open water diving courses. He had received four medals – the 17th SAARC Summit medal, the Minivan 50 (independence) medal, the Jumhooree 50 (republic) medal, and the Covid-19 Humanitarian Service medal – along with nine service ribbons.
Calls mounted from experienced Maldivian divers for the recovery operation in Vaavu atoll to be halted following the death of Staff Sergeant Mohamed Mahudhee on Saturday. Social media flooded with messages of condolence alongside appeals not to risk further lives recovering the dead. Diver Fahud Faaiz called the operation a "preventable disaster" rather than bad luck, saying deep cave dives in poor weather were among the most dangerous dives in the world and not a standard recovery operation. "Operations like this require highly specialised technical cave divers with appropriate gas mixes, decompression planning, support teams and a full evaluation of the dive site," he wrote on Facebook, arguing the operation had been conducted in dangerous weather without sufficient expertise or equipment. "A friend is gone. A rescuer who went to bring answers to the families of the missing. This should weigh on everyone who authorised this operation to go ahead." Fellow diver Fayyaz Ibrahim said the depth involved made nitrogen narcosis and oxygen toxicity serious risks and warned against repeating the dive a day later: "Don't take more risks." Both called on the government and MNDF to bring in international specialists, which the government has since announced. Mahudhee leaves behind two wives and two children.
Three Finnish specialists – including a cave-diving expert – work for an Italian company and will arrive in the Maldives on Sunday morning with specialised equipment to join the Coast Guard divers, the government spokesman said. Italy, the UK and Australia have all offered technical assistance. The operation will be re-strategised before it resumes. The Italians had dived to a 60-metre underwater cave near Alimatha, double the 30-metre recreational diving limit under Maldivian regulations. The cave mouth lies at 45 to 50 metres depth and the cave runs around 200 metres in length, with passages typically two to four metres wide, branching in places and reaching depths of 70 metres at its main section beyond the narrow entry points. "There is no light at all inside the cave. Some divers stay at the entrance while others descend inside. That is how we have to proceed," government spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef said. Rough seas and strong underwater currents are hampering the operation, but Shareef said the search would continue.
The tourism ministry indefinitely suspended the operating licence of the safari vessel MV Duke of York pending investigation into the diving incident that killed five Italian tourists, citing the seriousness of the case. The ministry said maintaining the Maldives as a safe destination was the responsibility of everyone in the tourism industry and urged full compliance with regulations, pledging to take all necessary measures to uphold safety standards. The Italians had dived to 60 metres, double the 30-metre recreational diving limit under Maldivian regulations. The licence suspension follows the recovery of one body — that of the dive instructor — from inside an underwater cave at around 60 metres depth; four remain missing. The vessel is operated by Luxury Yacht Maldives; its website was offline on Saturday and the owner had not responded to international media requests for comment.
The National Boating Association called for a "swift, transparent and comprehensive investigation" into the Vaavu cave-diving tragedy and urged authorities not to take action against any party before the inquiry is complete. The industry body, which represents boating operators, said the loss of five Italian lives was "a matter of immense grief" and that the country's diving and boating sector takes safety as its top priority. NBAM President Ismail Shareef said appropriate legal action should follow against any party found to have acted negligently once the investigation concludes. The statement called for a regulatory system to monitor technical diving activities, developed in consultation with tourism stakeholders and informed by global best practice, if such diving is to continue in the Maldives. It separately raised concerns about plans to open spearfishing to the general public, urging extensive consultation with industry associations on potential negative impacts on recreational diving.
Former presidents Mohamed Nasheed, Abdulla Yameen and Ibrahim Mohamed Solih agreed on Friday night to work together against what they described as the Muizzu government's open violations of constitutional rights, signing a joint statement demanding the immediate release of jailed journalists and the end of "unlawful prosecutions" against the press. The three met for nearly three hours in what was the first time they had appeared together since their political rivalries dominated the previous two decades of Maldivian politics. In a signed document, they listed concerns including the open violation of constitutional rights, undue influence on the courts, undermining of parliament's powers, the erosion of independent institutions, obstruction of press freedom, the jailing of journalists, rising prices and economic decline, government waste, and the erasure of democratic gains. "We have agreed to work together to put the country back on the right path," the statement said. At a joint press conference afterwards, all three said they would each appoint a team and develop a plan of action, vowing to continue until the government responded to their demands. Their first demand was the immediate release of jailed Adhadhu journalists Mohamed Shahzan and Leevan Ali Nasir, along with all others detained over the press freedom protests, and the halt of "unlawful prosecutions" of journalists. Police attempted to disperse MDP and PNF supporters who had gathered outside the building during the meeting. The meeting followed former MDP chairperson Fayyaz Ismail's public call for the three to unite against what he described as Muizzu's "authoritarian" rule, a call to which Yameen had publicly signalled his readiness.
The Maldives Journalists Association submitted a joint urgent appeal to UN Special Procedures on Saturday over the jailing of Adhadhu journalists Mohamed Shahzan and Leevan Ali Naseer, the Criminal Court's blanket gag order, the police raid on the Adhadhu newsroom, the seizure of journalistic materials, and the broader pattern of reprisals against the outlet. The appeal was notified to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of opinion and expression; independence of judges and lawyers; human rights defenders; right to privacy; and freedom of peaceful assembly and association. MJA argued the imprisonment of Shahzan and Naseer "appears to constitute arbitrary detention" and that the proceedings had created "an immediate chilling effect on independent journalism, public-interest reporting, source protection, and democratic accountability in the Maldives." The association asked the UN mandate-holders to call on the government to immediately release the jailed journalists, vacate or review the contempt findings, narrow or lift the gag order so any speech restrictions are lawful, necessary, proportionate and time-bound, return seized newsroom equipment, and ensure access to counsel and open trials for journalists facing legal proceedings.
Police blocked a peaceful media-led march in Malé on Saturday demanding the release of jailed Adhadhu journalists Mohamed Shahzan and Leevan Ali Naseer, preventing the participants from reaching Rasfannu. The march, which included a large number of journalists from across newsrooms along with some members of the public, set off from Artificial Beach at 4pm and was due to conclude at Rasfannu. SO police intercepted the marchers before they could reach it, blocking attempts to exit onto Majeedhee Magu via Nikagas Magu and then via the adjacent Dhanburuh Magu. The participants ended the march on Dhanburuh Magu after being prevented from reaching the planned end point. Shahzan, who is the Maldives Journalists Association vice president, was sentenced to 15 days for asking President Muizzu a question about the allegations at a press conference; Leevan was sentenced to 10 days for reporting on the gag order itself. The Criminal Court's order bars any direct or indirect public discussion of the Adhadhu documentary's contents while it presides over the qazf trial of the outlet's CEO and editor.
