ELITE divers have begun a gruelling operation to recover four Italian tourists in the Maldives – amid a desperate scramble to stop sharks eating their bodies.

A perilous mission by local authorities to recover the missing divers – which has been hampered by severe weather – has already left one rescue worker dead.

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Picture taken by Sami Paakkarinen, an elite diver who has been deployed to the Maldives
 

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Search boats pictured during the gruelling recovery missionCredit: EPA
 

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Muriel Oddenino, one of the five Italian divers, is yet to be foundCredit: UGC/UNPIXS
 

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On Monday, three Finnish cave divers started a high-risk recovery operation.

Only one out of the five Italian holidaymakers has been found by Maldivian rescue workers so far.

Sami Paakkarinen, Jenni Westerlund, and Patrik Grönqvist arrived on Sunday in the paradise archipelago to help local authorities.

The elite trio can dive to depths of nearly 500ft, giving them much more flexibility to search the difficult cave complex.

Diver dies during hunt for Italians who drowned in Maldives as death toll hits 6

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Finnish diver Sami Paakkarinen has flown to the MaldivesCredit: Monami Agency
 

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Monica Montefalcone died in the tragedyCredit: UGC/UNPIXS
The unit, which was assembled in 48 hours and dispatched by DAN Europe – a diving safety organisation – will be searching the Alimatha cave complex near the Vaavu Atoll.

Paakkarinen, who has been cave diving since 2004, and Grönqvist, gained international renown for their role in recovering surviving divers in the 2014 Plura incident in Norway.

The divers have worked on some of the world’s most difficult missions.

Laura Marroni, CEO of the European diving network, told La Stampa: “We’ll bring them back. We can’t leave them at the mercy of the sharks. We need experts here.”

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Giorgia Sommacal and her mum Monica died in the tragedyCredit: UGC/UNPIXS
 

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Rescue workers pictured during the search operationCredit: EPA
The one body that has been recovered was found in Thinwana Kandu cave, also known as the “Shark Cave”.

Fears are mounting that the remaining four holidaymakers may be scavenged before recovery workers reach them.

There were 20 other tourists on the Duke of York yacht when the tragedy unfolded.

The group have now returned home after landing at Malpensa Airport.

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Maldivian National Defense Force members carry the remains of military diver Mohamed Mahudhee who died during search and rescue operationCredit: AP
 

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The five divers went missing in the MaldivesCredit: Shutterstock
They departed from the capital, Malé, and stopped in Dubai before arriving in Italy.

So far, only one of the five Italian divers, Federico Gualtieri, has been recovered on Friday, Maldivian authorities confirmed.

They said: “The body was recovered from about 60 metres deep from inside a cave structure.

“It is assumed that the rest of the divers would also be inside this cave which is about 200ft in length.”

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Gianluca Benedetti was one of the five diversCredit: UGC/UNPIXS
 

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Federico Gualtieri’s body has been foundCredit: UGC/UNPIXS
The five scuba divers on a university research trip went missing on Thursday morning.

The divers were led by the highly-experienced diver and renowned marine biologist Monica Montefalcone and boat captain Gianluca Benedetti.

They were joined by Monica’s daughter Giorgia Sommacal, researcher Muriel Oddenino, and marine biologist Gualtieri.

The death of a Maldivian military rescue diver on Saturday highlighted the mission’s extreme danger – with the total death toll rising to six.

Sergeant-major Mohamed Mahudhee, died on Saturday from decompression illness.

Authorities temporarily suspended the recovery effort which has been taking place in rough weather and sea conditions.

It has since been revealed that the Duke of York yacht, from which they launched the expedition, did not have a permit allowing dives of more than 100ft.

A former military diver claimed that “rules were broken” in the high-risk cave – questioning why the group were allowed on the mission in the first place.

Shafraz Naeem, a veteran of the Maldives National Defence Force, said:  “The authorities have confirmed that the operator exceeded the Maldives’ recreational depth limit of 30 metres and conducted the dives without the necessary permits.

“Everyone knows the rules were broken; they didn’t even have a permit to conduct research at those depths.”

The ex-diver is very familiar with the caves and described the complex series of tunnels.

The entrance to the cave is between 180 to 190ft, nearly double what the permit allowed, and extends down to 330ft.

It forks into different tunnels, and soon becomes pitch-black.

Naeem said: “Even the most experienced divers can face considerable challenges in such environments.”

He believes that the Italian team died due to a combination of factors and stressed that just one “unexpected event can quickly turn into tragedy” at those depths.