News Desk
Efforts to locate three men missing after a cargo boat sank in the Huvadhoo Sea are reaching their final phase, with search teams sweeping the remaining sections of the main search grid.
The Friend 4, carrying a load of stone and sand from L. Atoll to Gaafu Alifu, took on water and capsized roughly eight nautical miles northeast of GA. Kudalafari.
Three men remain missing: the boat’s captain, Mohamed Hamdhoon, MNDF Staff Sergeant Ibrahim Ahmed, and Police Sergeant Ali Nafiu.
MNDF confirmed the vessel sank in waters exceeding 1,600 meters in depth. Huvadhoo Sea—also known as the One and a Half Degree Channel (Huvadhu Kandu)—is famous for its extreme depth and open-ocean currents, dropping far beyond the operational limits of even military or nuclear submarines.
Rescue teams deployed military drones with infrared sensors alongside the CGS Imaduddin, interceptor craft, and police launches. By Friday evening, air sweeps covered 9,920 square nautical miles, while sea patrols searched another 2,790 square nautical miles. Thermal sensors picked up floating sacks and drifting debris on the surface, but found no trace of the missing men.
Without life jackets to keep them afloat or aid visual tracking, the chances of locating individuals in such vast, deep waters diminish sharply.
All six individuals who managed to leap clear of the sinking vessel were rescued, including three crew members, an MNDF fireman, a police officer, and a Coast Guard patrol crewman. MNDF commended Coast Guard diver Sergeant Asrar Ali, who fought rough open-sea conditions to keep two foreign crew members afloat until help arrived.
MNDF search teams are expected to complete their full scan of the Huvadhoo surface area, following prevailing wind and current vectors to trace any drifting debris.
