The last words of one of the marine biologists who died in a scuba diving accident in the Maldives were a tribute to the lifelong passion that ultimately cost her life.

Monica Montefalcone was among the five Italians vanished during a deep-water dive and presumed trapped inside a cave 200 feet underwater in the Indian Ocean island nation Thursday — in what officials called the single worst diving accident the idyllic nation has ever seen.

“It is fundamental to observe the underwater environment — which remains far too unknown to the general public — whether with our own eyes or through the lens of a robot,” Montefalcone wrote to a colleague Wednesday night around 10:15 pm, a few hours before the fatal dive.

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Montefalcone, 51, an award-winning researcher from the University of Genoa in Italy, was on a work trip to the Maldives to monitor the effects of climate change on tropical biodiversity.

An experienced diver, she travelled with her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, 22, a student at the university, and research fellow Muriel Oddenino, 31 — who both died in the dive.