Seven-year-old son of missing officer: "why is dad so late? has anyone gone to find him?"

Three agonizing days have dragged on since the cargo boat, Friend 4 capsized and sank beneath the surface of the Huvadhoo Sea, leaving three grieving households waiting in total torment for even a single ray of good news.

The individuals who vanished during this dreadful calamity are Staff Sergeant Ibrahim Ahmed, 39, from the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), Police Sergeant Ali Nafiu, 33, and the boat's 35-year-old captain, Mohamed Hamdhoon, who hails from Th. Madifushi.

For those who love them, every tick of the clock spent in this horrific state of unknown fate feels like an unbearable torture.

Relatives of Police Sergeant Nafiu opened up to RaajjeMV, revealing that while authorities provide daily updates, the core message never changes. Officials simply repeat that no progress has been made whatsoever in locating the missing men.

Nafiu and his wife pose for a picture. | Raajje MV

A last call into the midnight void

The family last saw Nafiu in person when he departed for his evening work shift, which was supposed to wrap up at 11:30pm that evening. Exactly one minute later, at 11:31pm, his wife received what would be his final phone call.

Nafiu explained that he had just received reports regarding a vessel sinking and needed to respond to the emergency right away. That brief conversation was the final time anyone in the family ever heard his voice.

In the hours that followed, his loved ones tried repeatedly to reach his phone. His wife dispatched messages past midnight and tried again after 1am, but received no reply. Then, around 2am, a sudden knock on the door woke his wife, delivering the crushing news that Nafiu was officially missing and that a search team had been dispatched.

In the midst of their overwhelming heartache, the family is desperate for even the smallest drop of comfort. They harbor a deep desire to behold his face one final time, maintaining that knowing his definitive fate, no matter how terrible, would grant them far more peace than remaining stuck in this excruciating void.

Nafiu and his wife pose for a picture. | Raajje MV

A child’s unanswered heartbreak

Standing among those waiting for Nafiu's safe return is his seven-year-old son. Though the young boy is not old enough to fully comprehend the tragic scope of the disaster, he continues to repeat the same heartbreaking questions every single day.

The child continually wonders why his father is taking so long to return home and asks whether anyone has actually gone out to look for him. These persistent questions bring tears to the eyes of everyone in his presence.

Although his relatives have tried their best to explain the grim situation to him as far as his young mind can grasp, telling him everything they know, the boy still asks his mother if his father is coming, why he is so late, and whether people are going out to find him.

As their own hopes begin to wither away, the family finds it incredibly difficult to give him proper answers, doing their best to convey whatever information they receive in the gentlest way possible.

Demands for presidential intervention

With three Maldivian citizens unaccounted for, the heartbroken family is left wondering if the President of the Maldives is even fully aware of the disaster taking place.

They are desperately pleading with the national government to take far more decisive action, including calling upon foreign help if necessary, to bring these missing men home as fast as possible. With every day that passes without progress, their grief only becomes heavier.

The relatives express intense concern over why the president appears oblivious to this tragedy after three whole days, questioning why foreign specialists have not been brought in to bring closure to the ordeal.

They have directly appealed to the head of state to deploy every resource at the nation's disposal, including international technical expertise, if there remains even the slimmest possibility of finding the men.

Even though the likelihood of discovering them alive is fading fast, the family maintains that recovering their bodies would still offer a degree of solace.

Stark double standards in rescue efforts

Frustration is boiling over as many observe a glaring lack of urgency from the government when compared to previous maritime disasters. People point to a recent incident involving missing Italian divers, during which President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu personally traveled to the location to direct the search effort himself, and foreign assistance was requested without delay.

Nafiu's family points out the painful contrast, noting that the current situation involves a Maldivian police officer, a Maldivian soldier, and a Maldivian citizen.

They publicly question whether these local lives are deemed less worthy of official concern, asking why the situation has not even warranted a simple public post on social media platform X. Further, they highlight that the president has delivered speeches at two formal ceremonies since the incident occurred, however did not offer a single word to acknowledge the agony of the suffering families.

As the search yields no new developments, all three families remain trapped in a agonizing space between fragile hope and utter devastation, waiting for the moment they finally learn the truth.

Unforgiving depths and a desperate final effort

Air and sea search operations remain active, with the MNDF confirming that they are operating side-by-side with the police institution and have already combed through an expansive area of the ocean.

However, an MNDF officer who spoke to RaajjeMV under the agreement of anonymity shed light on the brutal hurdles confronting the rescue crews.

The officer detailed that the water depth at the exact location where the boat capsized reaches roughly 5,400 feet, making it completely impossible for human divers to descend to the sunken vessel.

The 98-foot cargo craft was reportedly loaded down with a heavy cargo of aggregate and stones at the time it went under.

The officer also revealed that moments before the vessel overturned, the three missing men were observed working frantically to pump incoming water out of the hull in a desperate attempt to keep the boat from sinking.

It is currently believed that all three individuals may have become trapped inside the vessel as it flipped over into the deep ocean.