May 18, 2026
A Criminal Investigation Underway In The Maldives, After 6 Diving Deaths
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RSS Feed The Maldives police have launched an investigation into how 5 experienced Italian divers ended up nearly 50 meters below the surface in a maze of caves. Their bodies were finally located, far below the 30 meter diving limit in the area, huddled together. A veteran local rescue diver died over the weekend searching for the missing divers, and now a plan is carefully being made to try and recover the bodies of the Italian divers over the next two days.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is Monday, May eighteenth, and we're starting to get a better picture of a tragedy in the Maldives and now it might lead to a criminal investigation with that. Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Roves, who should start with a tragedy could turn into now a crime. And this is the story we've been keeping an eye on for a while with major developments robes with a group of Italian divers who went missing in the Maldives. We do have an update about that missing group.
00:00:33
Speaker 3: Yes, the bodies of the four divers who had been missing have now been located. And they've described where they found these bodies as a maze of caves, even a shark cave is how they've described this. This is near the Maldives. And there was a fifth body. The first body they found it was the body of their diving instructor actually was found outside of the cave system and they found now those four missing they're all Italian, correct, Italian divers now in this elaborate cave system in the Maldives.
00:01:08
Speaker 2: Okay, and we say we hear Maldives, and I think most people have a general idea and maybe robes, even the general idea of the images. But yes, it's out tiny, tiny, I guess it is because of a country, tiny country, collection of islands.
00:01:22
Speaker 1: But tiny, tiny, but robes.
00:01:24
Speaker 2: It has a big, big international footprint in a lot of ways.
00:01:28
Speaker 1: People know this is the spot to go if you want to dive.
00:01:30
Speaker 3: Yes, and so diving enthusiasts, this is a mecca. This is a place that people from around the world flock to because they have incredible underwater cave systems, all the things that scare the heck out of me, and I would be so fearful, but people flock there to go find these elaborate cave systems and all of this.
00:01:54
Speaker 4: This incredible system.
00:01:56
Speaker 3: Lives below the surface, and they went way below there is actually a limit, and they have so many divers here, and safety, obviously is the most important part of enjoying this incredible thing that folks do that I can't even get my head around. But they go in there and they're highly trained. And these folks were highly trained, and they were specialists, they were scientists. They knew what they were doing, presumably, or at least it was I think you could safely assume they knew what they were doing, given their incredible resumes, But there's a limit to how deep divers were supposed to go in this area and in.
00:02:31
Speaker 2: This area, how deep you're supposed to go, and this was not and it's important to note this part. These weren't just some yocals, right, that's what i'd say, local yokels. But these weren't just some tourists that showed up and didn't know what they were doing. And hey, teaches this, these were not tourists. They were specifically described as researchers attached to a university in Italy. And like you said, and again this was a group that was much bigger. They had twenty plus as a member as part of this expedition they called it. But this particular dive was only five folks. One was the diving instructor. So let's go back to Thursday Robes. What happens is these five go for a dive and they didn't come back up when they were supposed to.
00:03:12
Speaker 3: Correct and they were now they said they went down, and then yes, when they didn't come back, they found out that they were at a depth and of around fifty meters, which is about one hundred.
00:03:24
Speaker 4: And sixty four feet the limit.
00:03:27
Speaker 3: The diving limit is thirty meters or around ninety eight feet, So that is a significant departure of what they allow. Just for a safety purposes. You have to have the specialized equipment to go deeper. And look, I started reading up on what happens to your body when you go that deep. This is this is not anything to mess with.
00:03:51
Speaker 2: This is dangerous and there's a reason those limits are there. And there is a reason that now these New York Times reporting there is a criminal investigation into what happened because rules, as far as I understand, robes were broken. There were some clear guidelines for what you can do. And it's put there for what reason? For safety? Because this thing. The last thing they want in the Maldives robes is to have someone killed, have someone hurt, injure themselves to where it's not as attractive to people for people to come. This is a huge economic driver. And I say it it's hard to put in context, rogue. We talk about economies, they don't necessarily have one. This is a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny place and they make their money off what being able to say, hey, we got this great thing, and we're even gonna take good care of you while you're here.
00:04:38
Speaker 1: Robes.
00:04:38
Speaker 2: They hire great instructors, people would specialized skills. What I'm saying is these folks know what they're doing in Maldives when it comes to diving. So if you have someone that seemingly has gone rogue robes and it seems to be the case, and we're talking about a distance, it's hard to imagine they were sixteen stories down.
00:05:00
Speaker 1: Think of that as a.
00:05:02
Speaker 2: Sixteen story building you see somewhere, and to think they were that far down.
00:05:07
Speaker 4: That is so frightening.
00:05:09
Speaker 3: And yes, they have described CBS News as reporting that this accident occurred when it was not part of the planned research. They actually described it as this being done. They said it was undertaken privately, and they put that in quotes that this was something that this team of researchers and certainly expert divers, decided to go further, to go deeper, to go to an area that was not sanctioned or even I think you could say aloud in that sense, if they have a restriction on how deep you can go.
00:05:44
Speaker 4: They went beyond that. And then some it's not even close.
00:05:47
Speaker 1: Ye, this wasn't just will go dip down.
00:05:49
Speaker 2: They were so far, and again from at least the reporting so far, it wasn't an accident to go that far.
00:05:58
Speaker 1: It was intentional.
00:05:59
Speaker 4: It's a choice of.
00:06:00
Speaker 1: These pictures down there robes are incredible.
00:06:03
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know who captured them over the years, but they it's stunning, it's gorgeous. But we have you and I are in particular segment of folks who watch a lot of horror movies, where a segment of folks who we watch these movies where there's something cavernous, where there's people exploring new caves, new adventures and all. And you see this network down there robes, and it looks gorgeous, and it looks like something you'd want to explore and somewhere you'd want to go. It's but I can't imagine how dangerous this type of thing is that deep.
00:06:33
Speaker 3: Yes, I mean I would be scared of sharks, but sharks, for the least of their concern. This was called a shark cave. Yeah, and sharks do exist there. Who knows that that Maybe they were following a shark. Who knows what happened, But yeah, isn't the movie called forty seven meters down or something.
00:06:47
Speaker 4: It's super scary. They were fifty meters down.
00:06:50
Speaker 3: And look, they even say, these caves, this elaborate maze of cave systems, It's easy to get lost in the caves.
00:06:57
Speaker 4: It's easy to get disoriented in the caves. Still gets kicked up.
00:07:01
Speaker 3: By predators, by even you know, fins from the scuba divers themselves, and they say, it doesn't take much to get completely disoriented just by the surroundings, let alone some of the issues that can take place when you're that deep in a cave, when you're that deep underwater.
00:07:19
Speaker 1: So the.
00:07:21
Speaker 2: And so obviously, as we were explaining, like you said, that deep underwater, So how do you go about I mean, they were pretty sure very early on this was a recovery mission from the very beginning. They confirmed their deaths. They confirmed it because they were able to recover one body, that of the instructor on the day that they all went missing, So they knew this was.
00:07:43
Speaker 1: A recovery mission.
00:07:44
Speaker 2: So robes on Thursday, they get the one body rescue or recovery starts immediately and they bring in local military, police, military divers and robes. Just to show how dangerous this is, we had another tragedy on top of tragedy.
00:08:04
Speaker 4: Yes he suffered.
00:08:05
Speaker 3: One of the rescue divers ended up dying after he came back up to the surface. He died from decompression sickness. That just shows you you have an experienced rescued diver who's going down and knows he's going down to a certain depth that is dangerous, and still died when he came back up from decompression sickness. And that is why it makes total sense that this is a criminal investigation. Because when you break the rules and you go in a place or go to a place that you're not supposed to go for safety reasons, and then you either get lost, get hurt till you die, you have to be recovered. In order to do that, you now have to send other people to risk their lives. And this wasn't even a rescue mission. This was a recovery mission. So now you are putting other people's lives at risk because of your poor decision. And yes, it costs unfortunately those divers their lives, but now it also cost another man his life.
00:09:03
Speaker 2: And I wonder, Robes, is there someone who could be held responsible at this point? Even are they are all ones responsible for this error? For this now man's death.
00:09:17
Speaker 4: Did they al pay the ultimate price?
00:09:20
Speaker 2: Is that the end of it? I don't know, or it's just such a tough one. And but you have to and Robes you have to, don't you as Maldives, you have to look into this. I don't want to say set an example, but you got to let people know you cannot do this. This is not just wrong and dangerous, it's criminal and you might not just get yourself killed. There's a guy not going to an home to his family because of decisions you make as a tourist or a researcher or whatever it is.
00:09:47
Speaker 1: This is an awful story.
00:09:48
Speaker 3: It's not just your life at stake, it's the stake of people who make their lives out of rescuing others.
00:09:54
Speaker 4: You know what this reminds me of Babe.
00:09:56
Speaker 3: So I really a couple of years ago, was hell bent and really really, really really wanted to.
00:10:00
Speaker 4: Climb Mont Blanc.
00:10:03
Speaker 3: And that is one of it's called the deadliest mountain in the world because there are no rules or regulations. You can go up without a guide. But here's the reason why it's the deadliest mountain in the world. Because the French government has said we ain't rescuing you. You go up in crazy conditions, you go up in wicked weather, you're on your own. We will not send our people to come rescue you. And so I hired a alpinist company that specializes in getting people to top of Mont Blanc. We had a couple windows with weather and they said to us, sorry to disappoint you. I know this is what you paid for, and I'm sure you're going to go back and tell whatever, but we will not risk your life, and most importly, we will not risk our lives taking you up to a place where we know we can't be rescued. It's an interesting concept and so yes, people still do it, and people die every year, but they aren't putting their local folks, their local rescue teams at risk trying to either rescue you or recover you. Your bodies stay on. They don't mess with it. And when you see something like this, it's kind of similar you have to ask, I'm sure, yes, I know.
00:11:09
Speaker 4: The right thing to do.
00:11:09
Speaker 3: People want to go recover bodies, but there are places in the world that are just too dangerous, and some governments have made the decision we're not coming for you.
00:11:17
Speaker 2: Well, that decision has not been made in the mild Eves because the plan is to recover these bodies from this area that quite frankly was so dangerous that it cost them their lives. How do you get them out? Stay here, we'll explain the plan.
00:11:46
Speaker 3: Welcome back to this episode of Amy and TJ, where there is massive planning underway now alongside a potential criminal investigation, as the country of Maldives is trying to get a plan to get to recover the bodies of four Italian divers. They were instructor excuse me, they were researchers. These weren't just tourists who got in over their head. These were experienced divers who went, it seems like, to a depth into an area that they shouldn't have and it cost them their lives. But now you have this added serious situation where you've got now other experienced divers having to risk their own lives to go down into this massive cave system and try to recover the bodies of these researchers who died at one hundred and sixty feet below.
00:12:38
Speaker 2: And the danger isn't over robes it. That's crazy that these folks are putting their lives on the line now to recover bodies and give families peace. Right, But this is extremely dangerous stuff.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: Robes.
00:12:53
Speaker 2: You already mentioned that one person had been killed, Robes, and we talked about the mal investigation.
00:13:02
Speaker 1: Weather is a part of that too.
00:13:03
Speaker 2: Yes, I didn't realize. It's not just that you went down too deep. You might have gone.
00:13:07
Speaker 1: They might have gone at a time they shouldn't have been out there in the first place.
00:13:09
Speaker 2: Correct, This is just you know, it's nothing worse, right than a preventable tragedy. There are rules in place for a reason. Now I should say this rogues. They don't know the cause before we say go any farther. But there is I shouldn't even say speculation. They're educated guesses about what they think happened. But at this point they don't know what happened down there, what sickness might have gotten to them, if anything else happened, we don't know. But Robes, I thought it was fascinating they found them. They have all the specialized equent where these finland right, Yes, that brought these divers in from They had to fly people in.
00:13:42
Speaker 1: This is some There are few people on earth who.
00:13:44
Speaker 2: Were qualified to do this kind of work, they bring them in and how they said they found them in the cave.
00:13:52
Speaker 4: They were all together, they were together, they were all together. You know, I went and looked up.
00:13:56
Speaker 3: I was just fascinating what happens to your body at one hundred and sixty feet underwater. And they talk about nitrogen narcosis, and we don't know this is how they died, but this is a very plausible explanation. But they call it the Martini effect. So if you're that deep, the pressure of the water causes nitrogen, the pressure of the nitrogen and what causes it to rapidly dissolve in your bloodstream. And it hasn't intoxicating, they say, a narcotic effect like a Martini. Like you're drunk, you can't make good decisions, and you actually you actually experience increased or severe euphoria, delayed reaction times, dizzyness. And that again reminds me of what they call Summit fever. You've got whatever, whether it's altitude or water pressure from that below, but you have a pressure on your brain that causes it not to function as it normally would. So you're not using logic, you're not using reason, you're actually getting drunk. So to speak, on the experience. And so people will try to go up to the summit of Everest or wherever and not even realize that their body is failing them because they get this euphoric feeling and they say that actually happens at those depths. You get confused but also just incredibly euphoric, and you don't realize. And they say, if you're a trained diver, you know those signs. And when you start to feel for you realize, oh no, that means I need to start ascending. And by the way, you can't descend too quickly because then you get the bends. So there's a lung compression that actually happens if you go up too fast, and that can kill you.
00:15:33
Speaker 4: So this is so, I mean, this is left people who go even.
00:15:38
Speaker 3: To one hundred feet you have to be so qualified and so experienced just to do that. To think that they were at one hundred and sixty feet is I mean, dangerous isn't even the word.
00:15:50
Speaker 2: So now you have these specialty divers. The plan is now ropes to bring up two bodies tomorrow, bring up the other two the day after. Now they did use as far as I saw, some uh, some machinery some to but that was as far as cameras go to identify things. But I haven't seen anywhere robes that any of the equipment is able to collect an object and bring it back up.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: That's not what we're talking about, right.
00:16:16
Speaker 3: I have no concept of how they're going to do what they're doing, and to do it safely like that. Can they assure can they? I don't think they can ensure that those divers are safe.
00:16:29
Speaker 2: This is but they're using. I hadn't heard of it, but it makes sense now to be honest with these regard I had no idea this existed. A rebreather closed circuit scuba system where it actually takes the air you breathing and the carbon dioxide that you put out, and it's able to recycle and make new oxygen for you while you're down there. It does this and able to do this, so you could do what stay underwater longer?
00:17:01
Speaker 1: Wow?
00:17:01
Speaker 3: Which look and they said, if you're at this deep of a I mean, if you're in this kind of depth, you run through your oxygen. So fascinated, this is terrifying, Like they say, within twenty minutes it's gone. And so if you're feeling this euphoric high. Woo, look what we're seeing.
00:17:17
Speaker 4: Oh, look at that.
00:17:18
Speaker 3: You don't realize how much time has gone by, even someone who's experienced, and you run out of oxygen.
00:17:23
Speaker 2: So they don't know yet if that might have been what happened to them. But Robes, I know it takes a long time to get down there, and it takes even longer to get back up. No matter what you see on the movies where somebody's in trouble and they hit the tank right quick and they get shot up.
00:17:38
Speaker 1: But no, you cannot. That will kill you, That will kill you with you. So this is Robes. I cannot imagine.
00:17:43
Speaker 2: The tragedy is one thing, but now you have to be on the edge of your seat every day waiting for word that these divers. Now, God bless them for doing this work.
00:17:52
Speaker 1: And they are.
00:17:53
Speaker 2: They are literally doing this, Robes, not to save life, but to give comfort to families, and that's important too, But they are risking their life lives now, not to save life.
00:18:02
Speaker 1: Wow, And that says a lot about these people.
00:18:04
Speaker 4: It certainly does.
00:18:05
Speaker 3: And look among the group that was that died, it was a mother and a daughter that was especially sad to me, both researchers, both dedicated their lives to studying these cave systems and studying this underwater world that so a few of us will ever see or know. So they were doing they you know, look, I don't know if they did it for the thrill of it at the end to go deeper, and we won't know what motivated them. I mean, I don't know what answers they'll be able to get from the bodies themselves. But the folks who made that decision all paid with their lives, and just to know that a mother and a daughter were there together, that's just it. It's extra sad. I mean, it's all, it's all tragic, but that that hit home.
00:18:46
Speaker 2: But we will have some updates we anticipate, maybe as early as the morning, but certainly tomorrow. But the plan is pull up two bodies tomorrow and then too the day after that. I just wanted to give you an update on a story of internettional interest, concern, and sympathy right now. As always, we appreciate you spending some time here with us. My dear Amy Robock, I'm TJ.
00:19:08
Speaker 1: Holmes. We'll talk to
00:19:11
Speaker 3: H
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks.
00:00:02
Speaker 2: It is Monday, May eighteenth, and we're starting to get a better picture of a tragedy in the Maldives and now it might lead to a criminal investigation with that. Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Roves, who should start with a tragedy could turn into now a crime. And this is the story we've been keeping an eye on for a while with major developments robes with a group of Italian divers who went missing in the Maldives. We do have an update about that missing group.
00:00:33
Speaker 3: Yes, the bodies of the four divers who had been missing have now been located. And they've described where they found these bodies as a maze of caves, even a shark cave is how they've described this. This is near the Maldives. And there was a fifth body. The first body they found it was the body of their diving instructor actually was found outside of the cave system and they found now those four missing they're all Italian, correct, Italian divers now in this elaborate cave system in the Maldives.
00:01:08
Speaker 2: Okay, and we say we hear Maldives, and I think most people have a general idea and maybe robes, even the general idea of the images. But yes, it's out tiny, tiny, I guess it is because of a country, tiny country, collection of islands.
00:01:22
Speaker 1: But tiny, tiny, but robes.
00:01:24
Speaker 2: It has a big, big international footprint in a lot of ways.
00:01:28
Speaker 1: People know this is the spot to go if you want to dive.
00:01:30
Speaker 3: Yes, and so diving enthusiasts, this is a mecca. This is a place that people from around the world flock to because they have incredible underwater cave systems, all the things that scare the heck out of me, and I would be so fearful, but people flock there to go find these elaborate cave systems and all of this.
00:01:54
Speaker 4: This incredible system.
00:01:56
Speaker 3: Lives below the surface, and they went way below there is actually a limit, and they have so many divers here, and safety, obviously is the most important part of enjoying this incredible thing that folks do that I can't even get my head around. But they go in there and they're highly trained. And these folks were highly trained, and they were specialists, they were scientists. They knew what they were doing, presumably, or at least it was I think you could safely assume they knew what they were doing, given their incredible resumes, But there's a limit to how deep divers were supposed to go in this area and in.
00:02:31
Speaker 2: This area, how deep you're supposed to go, and this was not and it's important to note this part. These weren't just some yocals, right, that's what i'd say, local yokels. But these weren't just some tourists that showed up and didn't know what they were doing. And hey, teaches this, these were not tourists. They were specifically described as researchers attached to a university in Italy. And like you said, and again this was a group that was much bigger. They had twenty plus as a member as part of this expedition they called it. But this particular dive was only five folks. One was the diving instructor. So let's go back to Thursday Robes. What happens is these five go for a dive and they didn't come back up when they were supposed to.
00:03:12
Speaker 3: Correct and they were now they said they went down, and then yes, when they didn't come back, they found out that they were at a depth and of around fifty meters, which is about one hundred.
00:03:24
Speaker 4: And sixty four feet the limit.
00:03:27
Speaker 3: The diving limit is thirty meters or around ninety eight feet, So that is a significant departure of what they allow. Just for a safety purposes. You have to have the specialized equipment to go deeper. And look, I started reading up on what happens to your body when you go that deep. This is this is not anything to mess with.
00:03:51
Speaker 2: This is dangerous and there's a reason those limits are there. And there is a reason that now these New York Times reporting there is a criminal investigation into what happened because rules, as far as I understand, robes were broken. There were some clear guidelines for what you can do. And it's put there for what reason? For safety? Because this thing. The last thing they want in the Maldives robes is to have someone killed, have someone hurt, injure themselves to where it's not as attractive to people for people to come. This is a huge economic driver. And I say it it's hard to put in context, rogue. We talk about economies, they don't necessarily have one. This is a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny place and they make their money off what being able to say, hey, we got this great thing, and we're even gonna take good care of you while you're here.
00:04:38
Speaker 1: Robes.
00:04:38
Speaker 2: They hire great instructors, people would specialized skills. What I'm saying is these folks know what they're doing in Maldives when it comes to diving. So if you have someone that seemingly has gone rogue robes and it seems to be the case, and we're talking about a distance, it's hard to imagine they were sixteen stories down.
00:05:00
Speaker 1: Think of that as a.
00:05:02
Speaker 2: Sixteen story building you see somewhere, and to think they were that far down.
00:05:07
Speaker 4: That is so frightening.
00:05:09
Speaker 3: And yes, they have described CBS News as reporting that this accident occurred when it was not part of the planned research. They actually described it as this being done. They said it was undertaken privately, and they put that in quotes that this was something that this team of researchers and certainly expert divers, decided to go further, to go deeper, to go to an area that was not sanctioned or even I think you could say aloud in that sense, if they have a restriction on how deep you can go.
00:05:44
Speaker 4: They went beyond that. And then some it's not even close.
00:05:47
Speaker 1: Ye, this wasn't just will go dip down.
00:05:49
Speaker 2: They were so far, and again from at least the reporting so far, it wasn't an accident to go that far.
00:05:58
Speaker 1: It was intentional.
00:05:59
Speaker 4: It's a choice of.
00:06:00
Speaker 1: These pictures down there robes are incredible.
00:06:03
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know who captured them over the years, but they it's stunning, it's gorgeous. But we have you and I are in particular segment of folks who watch a lot of horror movies, where a segment of folks who we watch these movies where there's something cavernous, where there's people exploring new caves, new adventures and all. And you see this network down there robes, and it looks gorgeous, and it looks like something you'd want to explore and somewhere you'd want to go. It's but I can't imagine how dangerous this type of thing is that deep.
00:06:33
Speaker 3: Yes, I mean I would be scared of sharks, but sharks, for the least of their concern. This was called a shark cave. Yeah, and sharks do exist there. Who knows that that Maybe they were following a shark. Who knows what happened, But yeah, isn't the movie called forty seven meters down or something.
00:06:47
Speaker 4: It's super scary. They were fifty meters down.
00:06:50
Speaker 3: And look, they even say, these caves, this elaborate maze of cave systems, It's easy to get lost in the caves.
00:06:57
Speaker 4: It's easy to get disoriented in the caves. Still gets kicked up.
00:07:01
Speaker 3: By predators, by even you know, fins from the scuba divers themselves, and they say, it doesn't take much to get completely disoriented just by the surroundings, let alone some of the issues that can take place when you're that deep in a cave, when you're that deep underwater.
00:07:19
Speaker 1: So the.
00:07:21
Speaker 2: And so obviously, as we were explaining, like you said, that deep underwater, So how do you go about I mean, they were pretty sure very early on this was a recovery mission from the very beginning. They confirmed their deaths. They confirmed it because they were able to recover one body, that of the instructor on the day that they all went missing, So they knew this was.
00:07:43
Speaker 1: A recovery mission.
00:07:44
Speaker 2: So robes on Thursday, they get the one body rescue or recovery starts immediately and they bring in local military, police, military divers and robes. Just to show how dangerous this is, we had another tragedy on top of tragedy.
00:08:04
Speaker 4: Yes he suffered.
00:08:05
Speaker 3: One of the rescue divers ended up dying after he came back up to the surface. He died from decompression sickness. That just shows you you have an experienced rescued diver who's going down and knows he's going down to a certain depth that is dangerous, and still died when he came back up from decompression sickness. And that is why it makes total sense that this is a criminal investigation. Because when you break the rules and you go in a place or go to a place that you're not supposed to go for safety reasons, and then you either get lost, get hurt till you die, you have to be recovered. In order to do that, you now have to send other people to risk their lives. And this wasn't even a rescue mission. This was a recovery mission. So now you are putting other people's lives at risk because of your poor decision. And yes, it costs unfortunately those divers their lives, but now it also cost another man his life.
00:09:03
Speaker 2: And I wonder, Robes, is there someone who could be held responsible at this point? Even are they are all ones responsible for this error? For this now man's death.
00:09:17
Speaker 4: Did they al pay the ultimate price?
00:09:20
Speaker 2: Is that the end of it? I don't know, or it's just such a tough one. And but you have to and Robes you have to, don't you as Maldives, you have to look into this. I don't want to say set an example, but you got to let people know you cannot do this. This is not just wrong and dangerous, it's criminal and you might not just get yourself killed. There's a guy not going to an home to his family because of decisions you make as a tourist or a researcher or whatever it is.
00:09:47
Speaker 1: This is an awful story.
00:09:48
Speaker 3: It's not just your life at stake, it's the stake of people who make their lives out of rescuing others.
00:09:54
Speaker 4: You know what this reminds me of Babe.
00:09:56
Speaker 3: So I really a couple of years ago, was hell bent and really really, really really wanted to.
00:10:00
Speaker 4: Climb Mont Blanc.
00:10:03
Speaker 3: And that is one of it's called the deadliest mountain in the world because there are no rules or regulations. You can go up without a guide. But here's the reason why it's the deadliest mountain in the world. Because the French government has said we ain't rescuing you. You go up in crazy conditions, you go up in wicked weather, you're on your own. We will not send our people to come rescue you. And so I hired a alpinist company that specializes in getting people to top of Mont Blanc. We had a couple windows with weather and they said to us, sorry to disappoint you. I know this is what you paid for, and I'm sure you're going to go back and tell whatever, but we will not risk your life, and most importly, we will not risk our lives taking you up to a place where we know we can't be rescued. It's an interesting concept and so yes, people still do it, and people die every year, but they aren't putting their local folks, their local rescue teams at risk trying to either rescue you or recover you. Your bodies stay on. They don't mess with it. And when you see something like this, it's kind of similar you have to ask, I'm sure, yes, I know.
00:11:09
Speaker 4: The right thing to do.
00:11:09
Speaker 3: People want to go recover bodies, but there are places in the world that are just too dangerous, and some governments have made the decision we're not coming for you.
00:11:17
Speaker 2: Well, that decision has not been made in the mild Eves because the plan is to recover these bodies from this area that quite frankly was so dangerous that it cost them their lives. How do you get them out? Stay here, we'll explain the plan.
00:11:46
Speaker 3: Welcome back to this episode of Amy and TJ, where there is massive planning underway now alongside a potential criminal investigation, as the country of Maldives is trying to get a plan to get to recover the bodies of four Italian divers. They were instructor excuse me, they were researchers. These weren't just tourists who got in over their head. These were experienced divers who went, it seems like, to a depth into an area that they shouldn't have and it cost them their lives. But now you have this added serious situation where you've got now other experienced divers having to risk their own lives to go down into this massive cave system and try to recover the bodies of these researchers who died at one hundred and sixty feet below.
00:12:38
Speaker 2: And the danger isn't over robes it. That's crazy that these folks are putting their lives on the line now to recover bodies and give families peace. Right, But this is extremely dangerous stuff.
00:12:53
Speaker 1: Robes.
00:12:53
Speaker 2: You already mentioned that one person had been killed, Robes, and we talked about the mal investigation.
00:13:02
Speaker 1: Weather is a part of that too.
00:13:03
Speaker 2: Yes, I didn't realize. It's not just that you went down too deep. You might have gone.
00:13:07
Speaker 1: They might have gone at a time they shouldn't have been out there in the first place.
00:13:09
Speaker 2: Correct, This is just you know, it's nothing worse, right than a preventable tragedy. There are rules in place for a reason. Now I should say this rogues. They don't know the cause before we say go any farther. But there is I shouldn't even say speculation. They're educated guesses about what they think happened. But at this point they don't know what happened down there, what sickness might have gotten to them, if anything else happened, we don't know. But Robes, I thought it was fascinating they found them. They have all the specialized equent where these finland right, Yes, that brought these divers in from They had to fly people in.
00:13:42
Speaker 1: This is some There are few people on earth who.
00:13:44
Speaker 2: Were qualified to do this kind of work, they bring them in and how they said they found them in the cave.
00:13:52
Speaker 4: They were all together, they were together, they were all together. You know, I went and looked up.
00:13:56
Speaker 3: I was just fascinating what happens to your body at one hundred and sixty feet underwater. And they talk about nitrogen narcosis, and we don't know this is how they died, but this is a very plausible explanation. But they call it the Martini effect. So if you're that deep, the pressure of the water causes nitrogen, the pressure of the nitrogen and what causes it to rapidly dissolve in your bloodstream. And it hasn't intoxicating, they say, a narcotic effect like a Martini. Like you're drunk, you can't make good decisions, and you actually you actually experience increased or severe euphoria, delayed reaction times, dizzyness. And that again reminds me of what they call Summit fever. You've got whatever, whether it's altitude or water pressure from that below, but you have a pressure on your brain that causes it not to function as it normally would. So you're not using logic, you're not using reason, you're actually getting drunk. So to speak, on the experience. And so people will try to go up to the summit of Everest or wherever and not even realize that their body is failing them because they get this euphoric feeling and they say that actually happens at those depths. You get confused but also just incredibly euphoric, and you don't realize. And they say, if you're a trained diver, you know those signs. And when you start to feel for you realize, oh no, that means I need to start ascending. And by the way, you can't descend too quickly because then you get the bends. So there's a lung compression that actually happens if you go up too fast, and that can kill you.
00:15:33
Speaker 4: So this is so, I mean, this is left people who go even.
00:15:38
Speaker 3: To one hundred feet you have to be so qualified and so experienced just to do that. To think that they were at one hundred and sixty feet is I mean, dangerous isn't even the word.
00:15:50
Speaker 2: So now you have these specialty divers. The plan is now ropes to bring up two bodies tomorrow, bring up the other two the day after. Now they did use as far as I saw, some uh, some machinery some to but that was as far as cameras go to identify things. But I haven't seen anywhere robes that any of the equipment is able to collect an object and bring it back up.
00:16:14
Speaker 1: That's not what we're talking about, right.
00:16:16
Speaker 3: I have no concept of how they're going to do what they're doing, and to do it safely like that. Can they assure can they? I don't think they can ensure that those divers are safe.
00:16:29
Speaker 2: This is but they're using. I hadn't heard of it, but it makes sense now to be honest with these regard I had no idea this existed. A rebreather closed circuit scuba system where it actually takes the air you breathing and the carbon dioxide that you put out, and it's able to recycle and make new oxygen for you while you're down there. It does this and able to do this, so you could do what stay underwater longer?
00:17:01
Speaker 1: Wow?
00:17:01
Speaker 3: Which look and they said, if you're at this deep of a I mean, if you're in this kind of depth, you run through your oxygen. So fascinated, this is terrifying, Like they say, within twenty minutes it's gone. And so if you're feeling this euphoric high. Woo, look what we're seeing.
00:17:17
Speaker 4: Oh, look at that.
00:17:18
Speaker 3: You don't realize how much time has gone by, even someone who's experienced, and you run out of oxygen.
00:17:23
Speaker 2: So they don't know yet if that might have been what happened to them. But Robes, I know it takes a long time to get down there, and it takes even longer to get back up. No matter what you see on the movies where somebody's in trouble and they hit the tank right quick and they get shot up.
00:17:38
Speaker 1: But no, you cannot. That will kill you, That will kill you with you. So this is Robes. I cannot imagine.
00:17:43
Speaker 2: The tragedy is one thing, but now you have to be on the edge of your seat every day waiting for word that these divers. Now, God bless them for doing this work.
00:17:52
Speaker 1: And they are.
00:17:53
Speaker 2: They are literally doing this, Robes, not to save life, but to give comfort to families, and that's important too, But they are risking their life lives now, not to save life.
00:18:02
Speaker 1: Wow, And that says a lot about these people.
00:18:04
Speaker 4: It certainly does.
00:18:05
Speaker 3: And look among the group that was that died, it was a mother and a daughter that was especially sad to me, both researchers, both dedicated their lives to studying these cave systems and studying this underwater world that so a few of us will ever see or know. So they were doing they you know, look, I don't know if they did it for the thrill of it at the end to go deeper, and we won't know what motivated them. I mean, I don't know what answers they'll be able to get from the bodies themselves. But the folks who made that decision all paid with their lives, and just to know that a mother and a daughter were there together, that's just it. It's extra sad. I mean, it's all, it's all tragic, but that that hit home.
00:18:46
Speaker 2: But we will have some updates we anticipate, maybe as early as the morning, but certainly tomorrow. But the plan is pull up two bodies tomorrow and then too the day after that. I just wanted to give you an update on a story of internettional interest, concern, and sympathy right now. As always, we appreciate you spending some time here with us. My dear Amy Robock, I'm TJ.
00:19:08
Speaker 1: Holmes. We'll talk to
00:19:11
Speaker 3: H