India, May 18 -- Italy's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that rescuers had located the bodies of four Italian divers deep inside an underwater cave in an atoll in the Maldives, four days after they were reported missing.

Search operations resumed on Monday after being suspended following the death of a local military diver during a mission to reach them.

The group of five Italians had gone missing after they failed failed to return to the surface while exploring a cave at a depth of about 50 meters in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday.

The accident was the deadliest diving disaster in the tourist destination.

The Maldivian government confirmed that the bodies were spotted in the innermost section of the cave by three Finnish diving experts work...