Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) has begun using a diving robot to find the 19-year-old girl who went missing at sea after her dinghy overturned while travelling from Fonadhoo island in Laamu atoll on Friday evening

While Coastguard Ship “Shaheed Ali” has also joined the search party, the diving robot is known to have helped in finding persons missing at sea by operating depths under water.

The missing girl is a student at Maamendhoo School who on Friday boarded a flight from Male’ to Fonadhoo and then attempted to travel to Maamendhoo on a dinghy being steered by a boy from Laamu Gan.

After the incident, the boy placed her on top of the overturned dinghy and had swum to a nearby resort.

Nearby resort staff, island residents, a Coastguard diving team and a helicopter have since joined the search.