Sami Paakkarinen

Sami Paakkarinen is a Finnish professional diver with extensive experience in technical, cave, and closed-circuit diving. Active in diving since 1995 and in cave diving since 2004, he is a well-known CCR instructor and underwater explorer who has participated in complex rescue and recovery operations, including the 2014 Plura Cave mission in Norway, a cave recovery mission in Mexico in 2014, and the 2026 Maldives case.

Title: The Maldives Mission: Behind the Search & Recovery Operation

In May 2026, the loss of five divers in a deep cave system in the Maldives triggered an extraordinary international search and recovery effort. The case was further amplified by the death of a Maldivian military diver during the initial recovery attempts.
Laura and Sami will take the audience behind the scenes of the operation from two different perspectives: on the one side the coordination, on the other the operations inside the cave. The keynote will explore the organisational, logistical, institutional and technical challenges involved, as well as the human and communication dimensions of managing a tragedy under intense international attention.
A first-hand account of what made it possible, and what can be learned from it.