Maldives fire kills 10; NO Sri Lankans affected

10 people have been killed and several others injured when a fire swept through the cramped lodgings of foreign workers in the Maldives capital Male, and no Sri Lankans were among those affected.

Maldivian Officials on Thursday said 10 bodies were recovered from the upper floor of a building destroyed in the fire, which originated from a ground-floor vehicle repair garage.

A security official said the dead included nine Indians and a Bangladesh national.

Maldivian political parties have previously criticised the living conditions for foreign workers, who are thought to make up about half of Male’s 250,000-strong population and are mostly from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Their poor living conditions were brought to light during the COVID-19 pandemic when the infection spread three times faster among foreign workers compared with locals.