A fire broke out in the fourth floor of a building in the Mahchangoalhi ward of capital city Male’ on Thursday evening.

While the fire was reported at around 5:35pm, Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF)'s media officer Ibrahim Azim said that the fire was controlled at around 8:55pm. The fire was completely doused by 09:30 pm.

While MNDF's fire and rescue officers had worked to extinguish the fire for over three hours, it said that the fire had spread to the third floor of the building. The third floor was being used as a storage unit in which electronics had been stored, which the MNDF revealed as a reason for the struggle in dousing the fire.

MNDF also revealed that some officers had been heavily affected by the thick smoke emitting from the burning building. As such, three officers had been treated and released from Senahiya Hospital.

The building was evacuated as the fire started to spread to the third floor. There were no reports of any casualties.

RaajjeMV understands that MNDF officers are still active in the area, although the fire has been controlled, as they investigate the cause of the fire.