A search is continuing for the bodies of four of five Italian divers who died during a cave diving expedition in the Maldives.
As BBC News reports, four of the divers were part of a University of Genoa team, including professor of ecology Monica Montefalcone, her daughter and two researchers.
The Maldives' military said one body had been found in a cave about 60m underwater in Vaavu Atoll., and the other four divers were believed to be also there.
It said divers with special equipment had been sent to the area, describing a search operation as a very high risk.
"The divers are believed to have died while attempting to explore caves at a depth of 50 metres (164ft)," the Italian foreign ministry said.
The University of Genoa later named the victims as Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, who was also a student, research fellow Muriel Oddenino and marine biology graduate Federico Gualtieri.
The fifth victim has been named as boat operations manager and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.
Another 20 Italian nationals aboard the Duke of York yacht, from which the five divers took off, are unharmed and receiving assistance from the Embassy of Italy in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the Italian foreign ministry told the BBC.
The incident is believed to be the worst single diving accident in the tiny Indian Ocean nation.
The Maldives are a popular tourist destination because of a string of coral islands.
The five Italians embarked on their dive on Thursday morning, local media reported.
The crew of the diving vessel they were travelling on reported them missing when they failed to resurface later on.
Read BBC News here
