One of the five Italians who tragically died while exploring underwater caves in the Maldives had sent a final message to her boyfriend just moments before making her final descent beneath the ocean.
Federico Colombo, 26, has spoken of his disbelief after last Thursday’s fatal incident, in which his girlfriend and the rest of her diving party died during an expedition near Vaavu Atoll in the Indian Ocean. The circumstances of what happened underwater have not been fully explained.
Reports in the Italian press say Colombo had been counting down the days until the return of 20-year-old Giorgia Sommacal, who had joined the trip alongside her mother, Monica Montefalcone — a well-regarded marine biologist and seasoned diver.
The couple had been together for nearly three years, and Colombo described the depth of his loss, saying the young woman was going to be “my [future] wife, the mother of my children.”
“She was due back on the 24th, for my birthday, and I couldn’t wait for her to arrive. I’ll wait until then because I still can’t understand what happened,” he shared with Italian media.
Colombo also said the pair had been planning a getaway to Egypt later this year, once Sommacal completed her studies at the University of Genova, where Montefalcone also taught.