Maldives diving deaths
Discussion
I’m not a diver myself but my dad is a PADI qualified instructor. Stuff like this makes my skin shiver as he dives every holiday with my sister.
5 Italians die in Scuba diving incident - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62e0p7rd2ro
Then today, one of the recovery team has also died -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1w2gv1gdnjo
A terribly awful situation.
5 Italians die in Scuba diving incident - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62e0p7rd2ro
Then today, one of the recovery team has also died -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1w2gv1gdnjo
A terribly awful situation.
Cavers and divers both think that cave divers are insane, it hugely increases the risk factor, especially if this wasn't a specialised group of experienced cave divers. Apparently went way below the depth limits.
edit - sounds like they did have experience, and the guy who I thought was a driving instructor was actually a diving instructor.
edit - sounds like they did have experience, and the guy who I thought was a driving instructor was actually a diving instructor.
Edited by ScotHill on Saturday 16th May 20:43
The Rotrex Kid said:
I m not a diver myself but my dad is a PADI qualified instructor. Stuff like this makes my skin shiver as he dives every holiday with my sister.
5 Italians die in Scuba diving incident - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62e0p7rd2ro
Then today, one of the recovery team has also died -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1w2gv1gdnjo
A terribly awful situation.
Even advance PADI (which isn’t that advanced) doesn’t allow you diving below 40m (I think) and certainly not in caves, where specialist training is required. It’s a tragic accident, but it shouldn’t concern ‘normal’ recreational scuba divers.5 Italians die in Scuba diving incident - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62e0p7rd2ro
Then today, one of the recovery team has also died -
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1w2gv1gdnjo
A terribly awful situation.
Just looking at the depth and working out a simple bounce dive, with a single cylinder it is clear that you're not carrying enough gas.
Looks like a major case of ignoring the rules as diving in the maldives has strict limits.
I have dived caves, its daft, I dive trimix, so not clueless
Looks like a major case of ignoring the rules as diving in the maldives has strict limits.
I have dived caves, its daft, I dive trimix, so not clueless
Some instructors on these resorts really are having a holiday
We had our Honeymoon in Filliteyo in the Maldives in 2007 , we both did a Honeymoon dive with an instructor in shallow water , the wife didnt like it but i wanted to see the coral , so the next day you could do a 15m dive , down a rope ....it was nearly the shortest marriage.
Id only ever put on am aqualung in a swimming pool as a kid for 10mins
I Was a bit hung over the next day , another tourist came along who was very nervous , we had a single instructor . No real safety breathing we put on our diving kit which had an inflatable buoyancy aid connected to the bottle , and off we walked into the water as we got out of our depth my mask began to fill with water . I was very uncomfortable and had no idea how to clear it . Eventually the instructor showed me how to clear it and we got to the edge of the coral there was a rope that descended into the depths the water went from turquiose to very dark blue.
the other chap started to flap so the instructor stayed with him and beckoned me to go down the rope .... I kept close to the coral reef and started to descend , My ears were in pain but managed to equalise , Then i got completly engrossed at looking at the fish , Id let go of the rope and realised i was descending at quite a rate , the bouncy aid seemed to be letting out air i looked up and the instructor was well above me,
panic set in and i was trying to grab the rope . Then i remembered the instructor had showed us a cord if you pull it the buoyancy aid would inflate and you would shoot up to the surface .
so i took a deep breathe and then the instructor grabbed me , and fortunately punched me in the stomach , he got me to the surface , I was at the 18m mark so guessing holding my breath wouldnt have been a good thing
after that i only went scuba diving ...........but if things couldnt have gotten any worse i was chased by one of these buggers .
We had our Honeymoon in Filliteyo in the Maldives in 2007 , we both did a Honeymoon dive with an instructor in shallow water , the wife didnt like it but i wanted to see the coral , so the next day you could do a 15m dive , down a rope ....it was nearly the shortest marriage.
Id only ever put on am aqualung in a swimming pool as a kid for 10mins
I Was a bit hung over the next day , another tourist came along who was very nervous , we had a single instructor . No real safety breathing we put on our diving kit which had an inflatable buoyancy aid connected to the bottle , and off we walked into the water as we got out of our depth my mask began to fill with water . I was very uncomfortable and had no idea how to clear it . Eventually the instructor showed me how to clear it and we got to the edge of the coral there was a rope that descended into the depths the water went from turquiose to very dark blue.
the other chap started to flap so the instructor stayed with him and beckoned me to go down the rope .... I kept close to the coral reef and started to descend , My ears were in pain but managed to equalise , Then i got completly engrossed at looking at the fish , Id let go of the rope and realised i was descending at quite a rate , the bouncy aid seemed to be letting out air i looked up and the instructor was well above me,
panic set in and i was trying to grab the rope . Then i remembered the instructor had showed us a cord if you pull it the buoyancy aid would inflate and you would shoot up to the surface .
so i took a deep breathe and then the instructor grabbed me , and fortunately punched me in the stomach , he got me to the surface , I was at the 18m mark so guessing holding my breath wouldnt have been a good thing
after that i only went scuba diving ...........but if things couldnt have gotten any worse i was chased by one of these buggers .
Edited by Purosangue on Saturday 16th May 21:24
They were diving in caves at 50m. I believe one body was found at 60m. Doing that on standard compressed air is insanity. Quite apart from nitrogen narcosis, at that depth you have 7minutes on a standard dive profile ( sans computer).
I’ve been to 50m in the med and I could look up and see the surface, but there is no way I would stick my head in a cave at that depth.
I’ve been to 50m in the med and I could look up and see the surface, but there is no way I would stick my head in a cave at that depth.
Love diving and it’s great until things go south.
One of the best things my club taught me was that if you aren’t feeling it, bail. It’s not a macho competition and your life can depend on you speaking up if you aren’t feeling it.
Mate of mine bailed on a dive in Cyprus as we were hung over, he missed a great wreck but maybe avoided becoming one himself.
It’s startling how quickly things can go South in a basic open water dive, let alone these technical dives into the bowels of the earth.
There’s a really good documentary (can’t recall the name) about a group of divers that didn’t make it out of a cave system and their friends went to recover them.
Kudos to them, I find it fascinating but cave diving isn’t for me…
RIP to those that were lost, and especially to the local rescuer. Such a sad loss regards all of them but especially the latter.
One of the best things my club taught me was that if you aren’t feeling it, bail. It’s not a macho competition and your life can depend on you speaking up if you aren’t feeling it.
Mate of mine bailed on a dive in Cyprus as we were hung over, he missed a great wreck but maybe avoided becoming one himself.
It’s startling how quickly things can go South in a basic open water dive, let alone these technical dives into the bowels of the earth.
There’s a really good documentary (can’t recall the name) about a group of divers that didn’t make it out of a cave system and their friends went to recover them.
Kudos to them, I find it fascinating but cave diving isn’t for me…
RIP to those that were lost, and especially to the local rescuer. Such a sad loss regards all of them but especially the latter.
I have watched various YouTube channels about cave diving and the deaths that have occurred. Some people are just wired differently.
https://youtu.be/RM_SH1Heo_E?si=Ac316PlAWh5XQTvD
Lots of similar tales
https://youtu.be/RM_SH1Heo_E?si=Ac316PlAWh5XQTvD
Lots of similar tales
Edited by J6542 on Saturday 16th May 21:54
Interesting from Reddit and seems plausible
1d ago
I’ve been hearing in other groups that there has been a huge down current happening in the area. Divers on a local liveaboard were speculating they got caught and the cave story is to place blame on the divers and not scare off tourists. Way too soon to speculate, but experienced divers making this series of decisions doesn’t pass the smell test
1d ago
I’ve been hearing in other groups that there has been a huge down current happening in the area. Divers on a local liveaboard were speculating they got caught and the cave story is to place blame on the divers and not scare off tourists. Way too soon to speculate, but experienced divers making this series of decisions doesn’t pass the smell test
I love SCUBA diving although havent dine so for a while, 10 years plus since last dive.
The wife and I were talking and have agreed that when we start again we will pretty much start from scratch.
One of the last dives in Oz, it was a really rushed, horrible experience and I said to one of the instructors that it shouldnt be like this in case corners get cut and her response was if you dont like it stay on the boat.
After the dive one of the other guests dropped the hired mask over the side so this instructer jumped in, clearly in a hurry and ignoring any safety precautions and when she resurfaced, she had a massive nosebleed. What a t
t over a mask.
The wife and I were talking and have agreed that when we start again we will pretty much start from scratch.
One of the last dives in Oz, it was a really rushed, horrible experience and I said to one of the instructors that it shouldnt be like this in case corners get cut and her response was if you dont like it stay on the boat.
After the dive one of the other guests dropped the hired mask over the side so this instructer jumped in, clearly in a hurry and ignoring any safety precautions and when she resurfaced, she had a massive nosebleed. What a t
t over a mask.Not a fan of PADI. It is a recreational licence but those who have it talk as if they have completed BUDS.
It teaches people just enough to get themselves into trouble. It puts them right in the danger zone of having confidence but not competence. It's fine for a bit of swimming around a shallow reef on holiday, but it doesn't make you Jacques bloody Coustaeu.
It is known as Pay And Die International for a reason.
It teaches people just enough to get themselves into trouble. It puts them right in the danger zone of having confidence but not competence. It's fine for a bit of swimming around a shallow reef on holiday, but it doesn't make you Jacques bloody Coustaeu.
It is known as Pay And Die International for a reason.
J6542 said:
I have watched various YouTube channels about cave diving and the deaths that have occurred. Some people are just wired differently.
https://youtu.be/RM_SH1Heo_E?si=Ac316PlAWh5XQTvD
Lots of similar tales
Yes, watched the same.https://youtu.be/RM_SH1Heo_E?si=Ac316PlAWh5XQTvD
Lots of similar tales
Also apply to caving.
Not for me thank you very much.
Jacques bloody Cousteau!
I used to love his films/programmes as a kid.
Agree on PADI as said above but weren't these guys more experienced than that?
Plus any experienced diver knows not to go into caves, or inside wrecks unless trained to do so, and with the correct equipment, air mix etc.
I used to love his films/programmes as a kid.
Agree on PADI as said above but weren't these guys more experienced than that?
Plus any experienced diver knows not to go into caves, or inside wrecks unless trained to do so, and with the correct equipment, air mix etc.
I'm PADI qualified, but don't dive regularly, mainly hols etc.
The last dive I did was in the Maldives, it was stunning, and I had no issues at all, apart from that I was in a group of seemingly far more experienced divers than myself. There was only 1 instructor/ dive leader in the water with us. Tbf to him, he stayed very close to me, but there's no way he could keep an eye on everyone in the group.
I went down past my 18 metre depth limit a couple of times, to around 25m.
There's not a lot of official stuff out there yet, the cave entrance is at 55-58 metres and the cave itself goes down to 100 metres. I don't think they've released details of whether they were using trimix or what equipment they were diving with, at this depth they should have advanced trimix and cave diving qualifications. Does say that the boat they were diving from does cater for technical and rebreather dives.
Do wonder how well some of these operators are run and monitored? there was a dive boat destroyed in an explosion in the Maldives on the 9th of May 2026 and another in March this year.
And a friend of my wife was killed in 2023 on board a dive boat. https://divernet.com/scuba-news/health-safety/deat...
The last dive I did was in the Maldives, it was stunning, and I had no issues at all, apart from that I was in a group of seemingly far more experienced divers than myself. There was only 1 instructor/ dive leader in the water with us. Tbf to him, he stayed very close to me, but there's no way he could keep an eye on everyone in the group.
I went down past my 18 metre depth limit a couple of times, to around 25m.
There's not a lot of official stuff out there yet, the cave entrance is at 55-58 metres and the cave itself goes down to 100 metres. I don't think they've released details of whether they were using trimix or what equipment they were diving with, at this depth they should have advanced trimix and cave diving qualifications. Does say that the boat they were diving from does cater for technical and rebreather dives.
Do wonder how well some of these operators are run and monitored? there was a dive boat destroyed in an explosion in the Maldives on the 9th of May 2026 and another in March this year.
And a friend of my wife was killed in 2023 on board a dive boat. https://divernet.com/scuba-news/health-safety/deat...
BSAC and PADI, when they used to have a 50m dive limit (on air), which is the maximum recommended depth for commercial diving on air, had a bottom time of 5 minutes.
Nitrogen Narcosis can take effect from 30m, although becomes more likely the deeper you go - is a facet of the nitrogen in air having (as the name suggests) an increasingly narcotic effect.
That issue, coupled with the likelihood of the bends (on ascent) from deeper dives, is why Nitrox gas mixes were developed. This is where the oxygen content in a mix was higher than the standard 21%, found in air.
Regardless, an overcast day, turbulent conditions and unfamiliarity with the site, may well have all led to the group having used more gas (if they weren’t diving on air) to descend to the cave entrance, that they expected to. This heightened sense of trying to calm themselves down, darker conditions at depth and then the unfamiliar layout of the cave, are likely to have made it easier to become disoriented and as many caves have entrances that are not wide, tall or horizontal, can quickly lead to confusion (or indeed panic) in seeking to navigate your way back out.
Diving incidents tend not to be ‘one thing’ but are the result of lots of lesser things building up - as Purosangue digested above - mask filling with water, ear clearing issues, etc.
In diving it is referred to as the incident pit - and like a funnel, failure to address one ‘simple’ issue, whilst not necessarily leading to others, means that when another problem arises you are already distracted and become frustrated and increasingly unable to resolve the first issue whilst others occur leading to more challenges - loss of vision from your mask leaking, to pain in your ears or sinuses, to further, increasingly severe problems; loss of buoyancy, disorientation, free flowing regulator, etc.
A wonderful location - The Maldives, excitement about the dive, location or point in their itinerary, may have led to a greater sense of security than the site and conditions merited.
Sad that the rescue diver also succumbed to the site. A full recovery operation with all of the incumbent procedures in place will now need to be conducted.
Nitrogen Narcosis can take effect from 30m, although becomes more likely the deeper you go - is a facet of the nitrogen in air having (as the name suggests) an increasingly narcotic effect.
That issue, coupled with the likelihood of the bends (on ascent) from deeper dives, is why Nitrox gas mixes were developed. This is where the oxygen content in a mix was higher than the standard 21%, found in air.
Regardless, an overcast day, turbulent conditions and unfamiliarity with the site, may well have all led to the group having used more gas (if they weren’t diving on air) to descend to the cave entrance, that they expected to. This heightened sense of trying to calm themselves down, darker conditions at depth and then the unfamiliar layout of the cave, are likely to have made it easier to become disoriented and as many caves have entrances that are not wide, tall or horizontal, can quickly lead to confusion (or indeed panic) in seeking to navigate your way back out.
Diving incidents tend not to be ‘one thing’ but are the result of lots of lesser things building up - as Purosangue digested above - mask filling with water, ear clearing issues, etc.
In diving it is referred to as the incident pit - and like a funnel, failure to address one ‘simple’ issue, whilst not necessarily leading to others, means that when another problem arises you are already distracted and become frustrated and increasingly unable to resolve the first issue whilst others occur leading to more challenges - loss of vision from your mask leaking, to pain in your ears or sinuses, to further, increasingly severe problems; loss of buoyancy, disorientation, free flowing regulator, etc.
A wonderful location - The Maldives, excitement about the dive, location or point in their itinerary, may have led to a greater sense of security than the site and conditions merited.
Sad that the rescue diver also succumbed to the site. A full recovery operation with all of the incumbent procedures in place will now need to be conducted.
BSAC and PADI, when they used to have a 50m dive limit (on air), which is the maximum recommended depth for commercial diving on air, had a bottom time of 5 minutes.
Nitrogen Narcosis can take effect from 30m, although becomes more likely the deeper you go - is a facet of the nitrogen in air having (as the name suggests) an increasingly narcotic effect.
That issue, coupled with the likelihood of the bends (on ascent) from deeper dives, is why Nitrox gas mixes were developed. This is where the oxygen content in a mix was higher than the standard 21%, found in air.
Regardless, an overcast day, turbulent conditions and unfamiliarity with the site, may well have all led to the group having used more gas (if they weren’t diving on air) to descend to the cave entrance, that they expected to. This heightened sense of trying to calm themselves down, darker conditions at depth and then the unfamiliar layout of the cave, are likely to have made it easier to become disoriented and as many caves have entrances that are not wide, tall or horizontal, can quickly lead to confusion (or indeed panic) in seeking to navigate your way back out.
Diving incidents tend not to be ‘one thing’ but are the result of lots of lesser things building up - as Purosangue digested above - mask filling with water, ear clearing issues, etc.
In diving it is referred to as the incident pit - and like a funnel, failure to address one ‘simple’ issue, whilst not necessarily leading to others, means that when another problem arises you are already distracted and become frustrated and increasingly unable to resolve the first issue whilst others occur leading to more challenges - loss of vision from your mask leaking, to pain in your ears or sinuses, to further, increasingly severe problems; loss of buoyancy, disorientation, free flowing regulator, etc.
A wonderful location - The Maldives, excitement about the dive, location or point in their itinerary, may have led to a greater sense of security than the site and conditions merited.
Sad that the rescue diver also succumbed to the site. A full recovery operation with all of the incumbent procedures in place will now need to be conducted.
Nitrogen Narcosis can take effect from 30m, although becomes more likely the deeper you go - is a facet of the nitrogen in air having (as the name suggests) an increasingly narcotic effect.
That issue, coupled with the likelihood of the bends (on ascent) from deeper dives, is why Nitrox gas mixes were developed. This is where the oxygen content in a mix was higher than the standard 21%, found in air.
Regardless, an overcast day, turbulent conditions and unfamiliarity with the site, may well have all led to the group having used more gas (if they weren’t diving on air) to descend to the cave entrance, that they expected to. This heightened sense of trying to calm themselves down, darker conditions at depth and then the unfamiliar layout of the cave, are likely to have made it easier to become disoriented and as many caves have entrances that are not wide, tall or horizontal, can quickly lead to confusion (or indeed panic) in seeking to navigate your way back out.
Diving incidents tend not to be ‘one thing’ but are the result of lots of lesser things building up - as Purosangue digested above - mask filling with water, ear clearing issues, etc.
In diving it is referred to as the incident pit - and like a funnel, failure to address one ‘simple’ issue, whilst not necessarily leading to others, means that when another problem arises you are already distracted and become frustrated and increasingly unable to resolve the first issue whilst others occur leading to more challenges - loss of vision from your mask leaking, to pain in your ears or sinuses, to further, increasingly severe problems; loss of buoyancy, disorientation, free flowing regulator, etc.
A wonderful location - The Maldives, excitement about the dive, location or point in their itinerary, may have led to a greater sense of security than the site and conditions merited.
Sad that the rescue diver also succumbed to the site. A full recovery operation with all of the incumbent procedures in place will now need to be conducted.
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