A dream diving trip in the turquoise waters of the Maldives has ended in horror after five tourists, including a mother and daughter, were found dead deep inside an underwater cave system.

The group of Italian tourists vanished during a cave diving expedition in the remote Vaavu Atoll, about 100 kilometres south of Malé, triggering an urgent high-risk search operation involving specialist divers and military crews.

Authorities later discovered the bodies about 60 metres underwater inside the cave network, as reported by the BBC.

A spokesperson for the Italian foreign ministry confirmed that the five people were Italians and said they were providing consular assistance to the victims’ families.

“The divers are reported to have died while attempting to explore caves at a depth of 50 metres,” they said.

“The reconstruction of the incident is still underway by the Maldivian authorities.”

It is believed that it is the single worst diving accident in the Maldives.

At the time of the incident, police said a yellow warning had been issued for boats and fishermen due to rough weather.

The University of Genoa issued a statement offering its condolences to the institution’s community after four students were named as victims.

They paid tribute to Monica Montefalcone, an associate professor of ecology and her daughter Giorgia Sommacal, a biomedical engineering student at the university, as well as two young researchers, Muriel Oddenino and Federico Gualtieri.

“To the families, to the colleagues, to the students who have shared their human and professional journey, the closeness of the entire university community goes on,” a translation of the post read.

The cause of death for the five divers has not been determined and an investigation has been launched into the incident.