Boat owner: Boat was overloaded, loss amounts to MVR 95k

The owner of “Attamas” boat which broke in half on Saturday while travelling from Male’ to V. Fulidhoo with construction stones has said that the boat broke in half because it was overloaded, and that the boat had not been insured when it sank to the bottom of the ocean.

Ahmed Waheed – who is in the safari business – spoke to “Sun” on Sunday and said that “Attamas” was a diving boat he owned in which he was transporting construction material he needed for a guesthouse he was opening in Fulidhoo.

He said that the diving boat was old, and carrying more than its capacity with 150 sacks of concrete stones, 40 timber planks and 50 plywood sheets.

He added that the weather had also not been favorable at the time of the incident.

“I asked the captain if he can transport it, and he said yes. So I told him to bring it if he thought it possible. We ran into this misfortune because we didn’t think it through and piled up the material on top of the boat,” said Ahmed.

Ahmed said that the boat want insured, and that the loss amounted to MVR 95,000.

There were two Maldivians and an expatriate onboard the boat when it broke in half and sank, in the middle of Fulidhoo Ocean.

One of the Maldivians suffered slight injuries to his hand, but nothing critical.