A top UK transplant surgeon has died while snorkeling on holiday in the Maldives.
Reports in the UK press claimed the 61 year-old consultant transplant and vascular surgeon, Ali Bakran, was on holiday with his wife Diane and daughter Miriam when he was pulled from the water and pronounced dead.
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said the incident occurred at the Adaaran Meedhupparu Resort in Raa Atoll.
“The cause [of death] was most likely drowning but it is very difficult to confirm without a postmortem, and that is not something we can do here [in the Maldives],” Shiyam said.
Meedhupparu Resort’s management would not confirm that the incident had occurred, and said the resort would not release any information to the press until the matter had been investigated.
Bakran’s son Adam told the Liverpool Daily that the cause of his father’s death on August 27 was still unknown, and that the family was waiting for the results of a post-mortem to be conducted in the UK.
“We have no idea if he died before he drowned. My mum saw him snorkeling and then half an hour to 45 minutes later he was pulled from the water,” he said.
Bakran worked at the Royal Liverpool Hospital for over 20 years, and set up the charity Aequitas to help make careers in medicine more accessible to underprivileged students.
Fellow charity trustee Professor John Aston, also the UK’s North West Regional Director of Public Health, told the newspaper that Bakran “was a man who had quite humble origins overseas and was very committed to improving access to medical school among people from poor backgrounds. He wanted other kids to have the same chances as he had, and his commitment to social justice and equality and opportunity is something to be recognised.”
Registrar at the Royal Liverpool Hospital Ajay Sharma said the staff were very upset.
“At times, people in the hospital would be taken aback or a bit stunned because he would do whatever was necessary for his patients – he would bulldoze his way for patients,” Sharma said.
“When he was travelling, Mr Bakran would call me from America or Australia to check on his patients.
Balkran is the latest tourist to die in a series of snorkeling-related incidents this year.
In mid-August a Chinese couple holidaying in the Maldives disappeared from their resort after they went for a swim.
The 38 year old woman and 40 year old man were holidaying with their 13 year-old daughter on the Hilton Irufushi Beach and Spa Resort in Noonu Atoll.
On March 14, police received a report that a Chinese national, Rui Dai, died while snorkelling at Holiday Inn Kandooma Resort, South Malé Atoll.
Earlier that same month another Chinese man died while snorkeling at Chaaya Lagoon Hakurahura Island Resort, less than a day after a German tourist died in a snorkeling accident at Embudu Village Island Resort.
Mohamed Ibrahim ‘Sim’ from the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) has previously stated that resorts need to ensure that inexperienced or elderly snorkelers are aware of the dangers, such as the country’s strong currents.
MATI is currently working with the Ministry of Tourism to make tourists more aware of the risks to snorkelers.
“Chinese guests in particular need to be made more aware because the Maldives is a totally different environment than what they are used to,” Sim said.
“The UK tour operators already pass on this kind of information, but China is a new market and the operators need to be made aware also,” he added. “Few resorts have reception staff or guides who speak Mandarin.”
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Slightly unrelated, but this Sim man has been in MATI every since i have heard of this place MATI as a child, think in grade 7 (now I have children). Is this like a forever post, once elected never to change? Don't they have any internal democracy????
Democracy does not mean compulsively booting out people from their jobs from time to time. Democracy literally means "rule of the people". By their very nature industry associations do not operate on the basis of one person one vote. Besides are you assuming this chap is an elected official? He could be an employee or a contractor with indefinite tenure or contract. "I", have you heard of the expression "get a life"?
These comments above - from 'I' and 'Wine Lover' - take your conversation elsewhere. A hugely respected man has died in a tragic accident and you talk about Sim and MATI. Show some respect!
You know, they were cheering about this in the enemy's base.
"Death to infidels!" they said. "Even paradise on earth is not safe from allah's wrath"
It was a pretty comical scene when they found out the doctor's name was Ali Bakran.
The speed that the gloating changed to "Innadhillahi vainnaa iraihiraajiyuun" broke the speed record held by photons.
sim name should come here, being a puppet of all resort owners and dont giving a dam about tourist security and other such needs.
There are currents down there!
Better run an awareness campaign about the real dangers that lie beneath the ocean compared to a peaceful "swimming pool"
My advice.
Learn to swim like a fish before swimming with the fish!
Anyways, my codolences to family and friends and may he RIP.
To Allah do we belong and to him shall we return!
@Ahmed Aliased
See how people die? Get a lesson and repent before it's LATE. Who knows when the Angel of Death will visit?
Don't be so silly to believe that DEATH is the end. It's only the beginning..
I agree with "I"...
its not just SIM, but anyone stuck in the same job. Specially at a policy making level is dangerous for the person as well as the public.
The public will be deprived of different view points which will result in innovative new ideas.
May he be blessed for all the good he did in life. May he rest in peace.
wots the relation between his death n sim??? don't make useless issue in matter. may he rest in peace.
wot does this incident has to do with sim??? it is a natural death.whn evr a tourist die does that mean sim has to take the responsibility???
I lol'd at heck for trying to get me to stop our unstoppable march for freedom with "ZOMG YOU WILL DIE TOO!! REPENT!".
heck, I told you before - I'll say it again since you cannot comprehend this with that mind of yours.
I can't die.
Why?. Because a facebook quiz said I would die during the world cup 2010. Am I dead?. No, I'm not.
Whether he is a doctor or on that matter any one else, he can die. The probable cause of death may be many. He may be drowned because he dont know how to swim, or may be he got massive cardiac arrest. I dont understand why some people are trying to relate these tourist deaths in Maldives as something of big news.
I am also curious to know who is this SIM man, when ever we hear some tourist related news, its attached to this this SIM man over 3 decades now.
This is the state of our society - a good man who did a lot of service for many visited and died in our country. And all people can comment about is some irrelevant detail or bitch among themselves. Doesn't anyone feel ashamed? Are we not human? Have we become that crude, insensitive and arrogant that we would use anything to foment our own egos and push our own agendas? Or is it just that the decent people are not vocal? The concept of 'evil flourishes when good men do nothing'?