Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) has said that the six people onboard the landing craft, Mariya 3, that was located four days after it went missing, are on their way to Malé City, with the help of Indian Navy ship, INS Kirch.
Media officer at MNDF, Captain Ibrahim Azim said that they decided to transfer all the persons onboard Mariya 3 to the INS Kirch, because of “prevailing wind and sea conditions”.
Captain Azim said that the company that owns the landing craft had tried to send a tugboat to tow the landing craft, but that SENOK Pvt. Ltd. failed to do so.
“For the past 36 hours, SENOK Pvt. Ltd. worked hard to find a suitable party to tow the landing craft to Malé. But no party agreed to depart due to bad weather”, he said.
Following the successful search operation, former President Mohamed Nasheed thanked INS Kirch for their “invaluable service” in saving the lives of those onboard the landing craft.
Will speak soon at @OsloFF press conference. Important to highlight human rights abuses, corruption & growing opposition to authoritarianism
— Mohamed Nasheed (@MohamedNasheed) May 22, 2017
Ambassador of India to the Maldives, Akhilesh Mishra applauded the “professionalism, unflinching courage and commitment to duty displayed by the Indian Naval officers in undertaking the search and rescue operation in an extremely challenging weather”.
Mariya 3 was reported missing on May 18, and authorities began an extensive search to find the vessel with six people onboard; the ship’s captain and his wife, and six expatriates whose identities have not been revealed. Indian Navy ship, INS Kirch’s aircraft located the landing craft 130 nautical miles north east of Isdhoo island of Laamu atoll, on Saturday evening.
MNDF said that the ship had drifted after its forward ramp “collapsed”, making it unable for it to propel.
