Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) has revealed that the funeral of Lance Corporal Mohamed Sultan will be arranged with the appropriate military honors.

Lance Corporal Mohamed Sultan, 22, native to Himandhoo island in Alif Alif atoll, collapsed while training in neighboring India, on Saturday afternoon and his body was brought back to the Maldives on Monday afternoon, for burial.

Although it was earlier revealed that an autopsy was to be conducted to determine the cause of the MNDF officer’s death, authorities decided against proceeding with the post mortem following a request by the family of the deceased.

Sultan’s burial will take place after the military funeral to be held at the Aasahara Cemetry after Maghrib prayers on Monday.

MNDF flags have been flown half-mast for a period of 48 hours starting 6pm of Sunday, at all MNDF centers.

He was undertaking the 145th Officer Cadet Training Course at the National Defense Academy in Pune, India

It has been reported that the officer collapsed throughout an endurance run at Camp Greenhorn on Saturday afternoon. It was too late when he was rushed to the hospital at around 1:58pm and was declared dead by then.

Sultan, who joined MNDF on 8 April 2015, served at the Integrated Headquarters (J-01) prior to being promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal while in training. The training programme he joined began on 1 March 2021 and wwas scheduled to conclude on 15 March 2024.

Pune’s National Defense Academy released a statement following the incident, stating that despite best efforts, Sultan could not be revived. It further notes that the Maldivian Embassy had been informed and a report of the incident is currently ongoing with the relevant authorities.

Further, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 3) for Pune City police, Pornima Gaikwad stated that they have registered an incident report under the Code of Criminal Procedure and a probe has since been launched into the circumstances leading to the death of the 22-year-old.