168 of the people on

MNDF has said that the 168 passengers on board the boat “Savaaree” that crashed on a reef while travelling to Graidhoo in Thaa Atoll from Malé City has been taken on board Coast Guard’s “Shaeed Ali” and some of them got off at M. Dhiggaru.

Media Official of MNDF, Major Adnaan Mohamed told Sun Media today that the boat had a total of 179 people on board, not 181. And aside from 11 people, the rest has been taken on board Coast Guard ship, Shaheed Ali.

“79 of those people stepped off at Dhiggaru last night. The rest remained on board Shaheed Ali last night.” Major Adnaan said.

He said that some people remained on board the Coast Guard ship because it was night time and the Shaheed Ali cannot get into the island’s harbor.

Major Adnaan said that the people remaining on board Savaaree are the boat’s crew of ten and one other passenger.

He said that the Coast Guard arrived on scene around 3:45 a.m. last night and when the Coast Guard ship couldn’t get close to the boat Savaaree, a dinghy was used to transfer people on board. And said that it was early hours of the morning when the transfer was complete.

Major Adnaan said that the rescue of the boat has not begun due to rough seas.

The boat Savaaree’s crash on to a reef was reported to the Police around 11:15 p.m. last night. after the boat crashed while crossing Mulhah sea near Dhiggaru.