Bodies of four Italian divers found in Maldives cave

The bodies of four Italian divers who went missing during a scuba diving accident in the Maldives last week have been found, officials have confirmed to the BBC.

One body, belonging to a fifth member of the group, had already been located after the incident on Thursday.

The Italian nationals were found inside a 60-metre-deep (197ft) cave in Vaavu Atoll by a joint team of highly trained Finnish and Maldivian divers, according to local authorities.

A rescue diver also died on Saturday while searching for the bodies of the group.

"Further dives [are] to be carried out in the coming days to recover the bodies," Mohamed Hossain Shareef, a Maldivian government spokesperson, said in a message to the BBC.

The incident is believed to be the worst single diving accident in the tiny Indian Ocean nation, a popular tourist destination because of its string of coral islands.

Four of the Italian divers were part of a University of Genoa team: Prof Monica Montefalcone, her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, and researchers Muriel Oddenino and Federico Gualtieri.

The Maldivian rescue diver who died while searching for their bodies has also been named as Staff Sgt Mohamed Mahdhee.

It is believed that the four bodies of the Italian group were located in the same underwater cave where the military found the first body on the day of the accident.