A barge was on Monday reported to have run aground onto a reef near Dhangethi island in Alif Dhaal atoll.

Mohamed Thaufeeq, the president of Dhangethi island’s local government council, said that the incident had already occurred when he went to work that day, at about 08:00 AM.

The council initially believed the barge to have docked there but was later informed of the actual circumstances by another vessel that had been active there.

While the Maldives National Defence Force is yet to provide a comment on the matter, witnesses in Dhangethi island have reported that they believe the vessel to be foreign.