MNDF searches entire Huvadhoo Sea, declares chances of finding missing men ‘slim’

The Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) on Monday declared chances of finding three men, including rescue officers, as “slim”, after a thorough search of the entire Huvadhoo Sea, where the supply vessel they were on capsized in early August.

The eight-crew ‘Friend 4’ had set off from K. Thilafushi on August 2, carrying construction material such as rock aggregate to islands. The boat sent out a distress call to the police at around 10:40 pm on August 5, after it began taking in water as it travelled through the Huvadhoo Sea after setting off from Th. Madifushi.

The incident took place 4.1 nautical miles off the northeast of GA. Kudarikilu.

Seven of the eight crew members on the vessel were successfully rescued, while three people, including a police officer and solider involved in the rescue operation, went missing.

This prompted the MNDF to launch an extensive search operation to find 35-year-old Mohamed Hamdhoon from Th. Madifushi, 33-year-old Police Sergeant Ali Nafiu, and 39-year-old MNDF Staff Sergeant Ibrahim Ahmed.

In a statement on Monday, the MNDF said that it has searched the entire Huvadhoo Sea via air and sea, as well as areas where the missing men may have drifted towards based on studies of winds and current patterns, spanning the reefs in L. Atoll and GA. Atoll.

The MNDF mobilized an aircraft from the national airline Maldivian, as well as Bayraktar TB2 drones and CGS Imaduddin in the operation.

The MNDF also received assistance from the United States, which sent US Navy Boeing P‑8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft to conduct low-level operations, searching 6,300 square nautical miles, covering the entire Huvadhoo Sea on Sunday alone.

The MNDF states that it had searched 17,220 square nautical miles via air, 2,790.10 square nautical miles via sea, as well as 288 square nautical miles of coastlines and reefs in the area as of 06:00 pm Sunday.

The MNDF said that a landing craft, a police speedboat and MNDF speedboat had been nearby, leading to the successful rescue of the people who jumped overboard and were able to escape when the supply vessel capsized.

However, the vessel sank rapidly into the deep Huvadhoo Sea, in an area estimated to be over 1,600 meters in depth, which is beyond the limit for human scuba dive, as well as conventional and nuclear submarines operated by foreign navies.

“Therefore, based on the efforts so far and the information provided by the survivors, the chances of finding the people who went missing from the boat are slim,” said the MNDF.

The sinking of the supply vessel came mere days after two Indian sailors went missing after a landing craft capsized off K. Gaafaru on July 31.

Both incidents took place amid rough seas and strong winds unleashed by monsoon rains.