Extreme depth made fatal cave dive perilous at luxury honeymoon destination

Authorities have recovered three of the divers' bodies - two on Tuesday, and one earlier. The other two bodies have been located but not yet recovered, the AP reported.

Mohamed Hussain Shareef, spokesperson for Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu, told the AP the operation was especially dangerous because of the cave's extreme depth.

"Number one, because of the depth. Number two, because of [the] actual terrain, because that specific channel has strong currents, strong downdrafts down toward - and the conditions down there, the visibility, for example, once you enter the cave, would be almost zero," he said.

Shareef said the cave had been explored by both foreign divers and local experts before the tragedy.

Shareef said at least two of the dead divers were not included on the expedition list submitted to authorities before the dive.

"[We] didn't know they were part of the expedition," he said. "Actually a very challenging dive, you know."

The victims were identified as University of Genoa ecology professor Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, marine biologist Federico Gualtieri, researcher Muriel Oddenino, and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.

Vaavu Atoll is a chain of islands in the central Maldives, located southwest of Sri Lanka and India.

Authorities were alerted after the divers failed to surface by midday Thursday amid rough weather conditions, according to the AP.

Carlo Sommacal, Montefalcone's husband, told local newspaper La Repubblica that his wife "would never have put the life of our daughter or other kids at risk."

"Something must have happened," he said in a different interview with an Italian television station, per the AP.

Stephen Sorace of Fox News Digital, as well as The Associated Press, contributed reporting.