India, May 17 -- A Maldivian military diver died on Saturday while searching for the bodies of four Italian divers believed to be deep inside an underwater cave.

The group of five Italian divers is believed to have died while exploring a cave at a depth of about 50 metres in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday, according to Italy's Foreign Ministry. The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is 30 metres.

Maldives Presidential Spokesman Mohammed Hussain Shareef said that Mohamed Mahudhee, a member of the Maldivian National Defence Force, died of underwater decompression sickness after being transferred to a hospital in the capital. "The death goes to show the difficulty of the mission," he said. Earlier, Shareef said the searchers had prepared a...