All four missing Italian divers have been located in a Maldives cave. Maldives government spokesman Ahmed Shaam confirmed Monday that a combined team of Finnish and Maldivian divers found the bodies inside the cave's third and deepest section — the furthest point from the entrance, according to BBC News.

The recovery of the bodies has NOT yet happened. Maldivian presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef announced the plan: two bodies pulled out Tuesday, the remaining two Wednesday.

The Cave Is Extremely Deep

The cave sits at roughly 50-70 meters deep — that's 160 to 230 feet, or about as deep as a 20-story building is tall, according to CNN. The Maldives' own recreational diving limit is 30 meters (98 feet), according to NBC News. The Italian group dove in at nearly double the legal recreational limit.

The cave stretches 200 meters long and is divided into three chambers connected by narrow passages, according to The Guardian. The four bodies were found in the deepest chamber.

A Recovery Diver Died Trying to Find Them

Sgt. Mohamed Mahudhee, 43, a senior member of the Maldivian National Defense Force, died Saturday after suffering decompression sickness during the recovery operation. He was transported to a hospital in the capital Malé, where he died, according to The Guardian and CNN.

Shareef noted that Mahudhee was "one of the most senior divers" — a detail that speaks to the cave's danger. This wasn't a rookie mistake. This was an elite military diver with full support, and he still did not survive.

The death toll from this incident is now six people: five Italian civilians and one Maldivian military serviceman.

Who Located the Bodies

Three Finnish divers from the Divers Alert Network (DAN) — a global scuba safety organization — flew in Sunday, regrouped with Maldives police and military, and developed a new search strategy, according to CNN. Specialist equipment was provided by the United Kingdom and Australia, according to Shareef.

It is currently unclear whether divers physically entered the cave to visually confirm the bodies or used underwater drone cameras, according to NBC News. That distinction affects the recovery timeline and safety planning.

Questions Without Answers

Few outlets are pressing hard on the central question: how did a group of experienced divers end up at 50-70 meters in a cave system, nearly twice the Maldivian recreational limit, without triggering any safety intervention beforehand?

CNN notes the group was aboard the Duke of York vessel and that a sixth diver chose not to enter the water when the others dove in. That person is alive. Why did that one person hold back? What did they see or know that the others didn't?

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the Italian government "will do everything possible to recover the bodies," according to The Guardian. That's a diplomatic statement. It says nothing about accountability — for the dive operator, for the vessel, for whoever approved a dive that deep into a cave system.

The five deceased have been identified as Monica Montefalcone, associate professor of ecology at the University of Genoa; her daughter Giorgia Sommacal; marine biologist Federico Gualtieri; researcher Muriel Oddenino; and dive instructor Gianluca Benedetti, whose body was the first recovered — found near the cave entrance on Thursday, May 15.

A Reckoning

The Maldives is one of the most popular dive destinations on the planet. This is now the worst single diving accident in the country's history, according to BBC News. And it happened in a cave system that recreational divers had no business entering at those depths.

The families of five Italians and one Maldivian soldier are waiting for answers. So far they have recovery timelines — not explanations.

Someone needs to answer for how this dive was planned, who authorized it, and whether the Albatros Top Boat operation followed any safety protocols. The bodies are not yet on the surface, and that question is already overdue.