Colombo: Water was cut off to more than 100,000 residents in the Maldives’ capital because of a fire in the city’s water treatment plant, a minister said on Friday.
Government Minister Mohamed Shareef said the government has declared a crisis situation and appealed to India, Sri Lanka and China and the United States for help.
As desperate residents scuffled and attacked shops over dwindling supplies of bottled water in the Maldivian capital of Male, Rajeev Shahare, India’s envoy to the archipelago nation, said water was being brought in large planes in five flights; an offshore patrol vessel in the ocean with a water treating facility has been diverted to the Maldives.
Mr Shareef said it may take days to resume operations in the treatment plant because destroyed parts need to be brought in from abroad.
Hospitals in the capital and the country’s famous tourist resort islands have their own water facilities.
