Two out of four containers that fell overboard from a barge located

Maldives Police Service states two of the four containers that fell overboard from a Maldives Ports Limited (MPL) barge on Saturday night have been recovered.

In a statement on Saturday night, the Police said they received a report at approximately 23:10pm informing several containers had fallen into the sea from an MPL barge docked at the outer jetty of the Malé Commercial Port.

Authorities believe the containers are drifting in the waters between Dhoonidhoo and Feydhoofinolhu. The Police, therefore, advised seafarers navigating the area to exercise extreme caution.

Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) has confirmed that four containers fell into the sea.

The Police, on Sunday, announced that two of the containers have so far been recovered or located.

MPL told Sun that the containers which fell overboard were empty at the time of the incident.

The incident comes as Malé area experiences severe weather conditions, where heavy rainfall and strong winds caused significant flooding in several parts of the capital on Saturday night.

According to the latest data released by the Maldives Meteorological Service (MET), Malé recorded 51.6 millimetres of rainfall between 08:00am on Saturday and 08:00am on Sunday, while Hulhulé saw 53.6 millimetres during the same period.