Rescue officers search for vessel after receiving distress call

The Maldives National Defence Force’s rescue offices announced that they are searching for a vessel and its crew from whom they received a distress call early Friday.

The ‘Umeedhu’ crew had at around 5:30 am on Friday reported that they their vessel had been sinking, and officers had dispatched a vessel to their rescue.

Dive crews had begun looking in the waters around Baa atoll, where the call came from, after first responders failed to sight the vessel or the crew.

Officers said that an aircraft has been dispatched to assist with the search and that thus far there has been no sign of the vessel.