Maldives president unhurt in boat blast on return from Hajj
MALE: The president of the Maldives was unhurt but his wife and two aides were injured in an explosion on board their launch yesterday as it approached Male, capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago, a senior aide said.
The cause of the blast, witnessed by journalists who were waiting to meet President Abdulla Yameen on his return from the Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, was not immediately clear.
Footage aired on local TV channels showed chaotic scenes as Yameen’s staff tried to evacuate the injured from his stricken launch, bobbing on the waves close to a jetty, to a police boat.
“There was a explosion at President Yameen’s official speedboat near Male jetty. The president is unhurt, but the first lady was slightly injured,” Mohamed Hussain Shareef, minister at the president’s office, said.
Yameen, 59, is a controversial figure. He rose to power in a bitterly contested presidential election in 2013. The leader he defeated, Mohamed Nasheed, was jailed this year for terrorism in a case that has drawn international criticism.
A crackdown against political dissent belies the reputation of the Maldives as a holiday paradise, with radicalised youths enlisting in significant numbers to fight for Islamic State militants in the Middle East.
Yameen had landed at the main international airport of the Maldives earlier and was making the short to Male.
His wife, Fathimath Ibrahim, fell and was carried off the boat. She was taken to hospital, along with a bodyguard who was seriously hurt and a presidential aide who suffered slight injuries. – Reuters