Rome, 16 May (LaPresse) – The Maldivian Coast Guard has begun diving operations to recover the bodies of the four Italian divers who went missing in last Thursday’s accident. The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced this in a statement. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani is in contact with Italy’s Ambassador to Colombo, Damiano Francovigh, who is responsible for the Maldives, and the Honorary Consul in Malé, Giorgia Marazzi, who have boarded the Coast Guard’s support vessel ‘Ghazee’ to monitor the recovery operations. Tajani has instructed the Foreign Ministry to monitor the recovery of the bodies and to offer assistance to the families of the missing and to the Italian nationals who will now have to return to Italy. At his request, the Maldivian police will provide a team equipped to offer psychological support to the Italian nationals involved. The “Duke of York”, the yacht on which the 25 Italian tourists – including the five missing divers – were staying, has just reached the capital, Malé. At sea, eight Maldivian divers are currently taking turns in the operations. The first two divers have already dived to locate and precisely mark the entrance to the series of caves where the Italian divers went missing. A further six divers will subsequently dive, in various shifts, to try to locate the bodies and bring them to the surface.