The first photographs from the treacherous underwater cave system in the Maldives, where five Italian divers tragically lost their lives, have been released by the rescue team that recovered their bodies.

The group of divers set out on Thursday to explore the underwater caves in the Vaavu atoll, but never resurfaced, according to Daily Mail.

The images, released by the diving organization Dan Europe, show the narrow underwater passageways where the Italian divers lost their lives, where light rapidly fades into near-total darkness.

On the photographs, clouds of stirred-up coral sediment can be seen floating in the water, illustrating how quickly visibility can deteriorate within confined tunnels.

Dan Europe noted on social media that the series of images "documents the inner parts of the cave system which are significantly constricted, where visibility can rapidly deteriorate due to stirred-up coral sediment, and navigation becomes much more complex."

"These are the environments where the rescue team worked during the search and body recovery mission in the previous days," they added.

The organization also stated: "Natural light still reaches the entrance before the system plunges into darkness."

The group of five consisted of Monika Montefalkone, a marine biology professor with extensive experience; her daughter Đorđa Somakal; two young researchers, Federico Gvaltijeri and Murijel Odenino; and their Maldivian guide, Benedeti.

Benedeti's body was found near the entrance to the Thinvana Kandu cave on the day the divers disappeared, while the remaining four bodies were found in the third and final chamber of the cave on Monday, at a depth of just over 50 meters.

The tragedy, which has been called the worst diving incident in the history of this island nation, is still shrouded in mystery as investigators try to determine how the group of experienced divers lost their lives.

Experienced divers from Finland, who recovered the bodies this week, suggested that the group may have chosen the wrong tunnel during their exit from the underwater cave.

Professional divers working for Dan Europe found the Italians in a passage with a sump within the cave complex, according to the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica.

"There was no way out from there," La Repubblica quoted Laura Maroni, the executive director of the company, as saying.

Maroni told the media that the cave near Alimate begins with a large, very bright cave with a sandy bottom.

"At the end of this space, there is a passage with a little light, but visibility, using artificial lighting, was excellent," she said.

The passage is nearly 30 meters long and 3 meters wide, leading to the second chamber of the cave, which is a large, round space with no natural light. Between the passage and the second chamber is a sandy bar.

It is easy to cross the sandy bar into the second chamber, but when you turn around to exit, the bar almost looks like a wall, hiding the passage, La Repubblica reported.

To the left of the sandy bar is another passage.

"The bodies of all the divers were found inside, as if they had mixed up this passage with the correct one," Maroni told the media.

"If they mistakenly went through this passage, it would have been very difficult to return, especially due to the limited air supply," Maroni said.

The divers were using standard tanks, which means they had very little time at that depth to visit another cave, she said.

The Maldivian authorities are investigating how the Italian divers ended up in such a perilous situation.