Author: JJ Robinson

Maldives updates UN Human Rights Council on political developments

A day after taking a seat on the UN Human Rights Council, the government has updated UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on recent political developments in the country, and the challenges “surrounding the division and balance of power between the three branches of government.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the UN in Geneva Iruthisham Adam explained to the Council the Maldives was undergoing a democratic transition and was facing “many challenges and difficulties.”

“Many of the institutions, mechanisms and concepts introduced by the 2008 Constitution are new to the Maldives and all of us, including decision-makers and the general population, are still adapting and learning,” Adam said.

She noted that the government had invited the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) to assist in ensuring the separation of powers between the executive and legislature following recent political deadlocks, and added that the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) had sent a high-level mission to the Maldives to strengthen judicial independence and accountability.

The Maldives delegation also requested the Council to work with the authorities in Myanmar/Burma to ensure the country’s elections in November were “fair and free and reflect the will of the people.”

Press Secretary of the President, Mohamed Zuhair, observed that the Maldives faced its own human rights challenges domestically.

“One allegation many Maldivians are not aware of is human trafficking – the employment of cheap labour, and inhumane treatment of workers,” he said, adding that how to handle it “is one of our biggest [human rights] challenges.”

Minivan News recently reported that exploitation of foreign workers rivals fishing as the second most profitable sector of the Maldivian economy after tourism, according to conservative estimates of the number of Bangladeshi workers showing up at their commission in Male’ after being abandoned at the airport by unscrupulous employment agents.

“Certain sections of society treat their servants appallingly, whether they are Bangladeshi or Maldivian,” Zuhair noted, “but a lot of what is described as human trafficking is not happening intentionally. People obtain labour quotas for foreign workers, and then afterwards the workers fade into society.”

Zuhair noted that on one street corner in Male’, “every morning there are 300-400 Bangladeshis out moonlighting – it looks like a minor demonstration, and people have started calling it Bangladeshi corner.”

“Both sides are culpable,” he observed, suggesting there needed to be awareness programs, better legislation “and also a central point where the rules and regulations are available [for workers].

“Right now there is a split between immigration and the employment ministry – there should not be a split, and it doesn’t help,” Zuhair added.

The Maldives also faced other human rights maladies such as child molestation and civil rights, he noted.

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Opposition “a little over enthusiastic” to return to power, says Nasheed

President Mohamed Nasheed has criticised the opposition for “being a little eager” to topple the government.

“They want a quick transfer of powers back to them,” Nasheed said, in an interview with the Asian Tribune.

“In that process they have become a little over enthusiastic. But I think they will come to their senses. We are here to stay here till the end of our term. There is absolutely no way that they could dislodge us.”

In the interview, Nasheed claimed that while leader of the main opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party Ahmed Thasmeen Ali understood democracy, others in his party did not.

“I think it will take some more time for Thasmeen to get a good grip on his own party – in a sense to wash the DRP off and make it a clean party,” the AT reported Nasheed as saying.

DRP MP Ahmed Mahlouf said Nasheed was “trying to create problems” in his comments regarding Thasmeen’s grip on the party.

“It’s a stunt – he does a lot of stunts. It’s supposed to make supporters of the opposition uncomfortable by implying he is making deals with Thasmeen,” Mahlouf observed.

As for Nasheed’s suggestion that the opposition needed development, “I think we’re [already] a very responsible opposition. So far we haven’t done anything MDP didn’t do while they were in opposition. I don’t think we need support from the government: we have the capability and the educated people.”

Responding to the allegations of attempted overthrow, DRP MP Ahmed Mahlouf observed that “the only way we could change the government before the election would be a no confidence motion in parliament, and we would need 52 votes for that. I’m surprised to hear him accusing the opposition of trying to topple the government.”

The government has previously accused several opposition MPs of corruption and bribery, notably attempting to buy the votes of ruling Maldivian Democratic Party supporters.

Nasheed, in response to question from AT regarding the government’s recent controversial detention of minority opposition party leader Abdulla Yameen, leader of the People’s Alliance (PA), acknowledged that “the charges were not clear. It was cloudy at that moment.”

“When we see the whole thing is being derailed through corruption or bribery I will have to flex my muscles, and I will do it again,” he said. “But I will make sure we have our focus, that democracy is the goal.”

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President ratifies goods and services tax to offset new land tax scheme

President Mohamed Nasheed has ratifed parliament’s Tourism Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, which will impose a levy on most products and services sold to tourists by the resort industry.

Once implemented, the GST will apply to room rates charged by resorts, hotels, picnic islands, guest houses and tourist vessels, as well as all goods and services sold to tourists by these businesses.

The GST will also apply to domestic transportation of tourists, travel planner charges, and goods and services sold to tourists by dive schools, shops, spas and water sports facilities by resorts, guest houses and tourist vessels.

Deputy Minister for Tourism Mamduh Waheed explained the new legislation, which would impose a tax of approximately 3.5 percent, was intended to the offset the revenue lost through standardising land tax charged to resorts and scrappage of the ‘bed tax’.

Resorts currently pay a flat rate of US$8 per occupied room, per night, however the resort industry has criticised this as a disincentive to increase capacity and promote expansion, and limit potential revenues in the future.

Presently the government has been making anywhere from US$3,500-20,000 per bed every year, generating a total of US$47 million in revenue from the bed tax per year.

Under the amended Tourism Act, arbitrary lease agreements will be replaced by a blanket payment whereby if the rent charged for less than 200,000 square metres is more than US$1 million, the rent is set at US$1 million per year, and if the rent charged is less than US$1 million, the rent will be set at a rate of US$8 per square metre.

The Act stipulates that US$1.5 million per year will be charged for 200,001 to 400,000 square metres, while where the rent paid for land greater than 400,001 square metres is more than US$2 million, the rent of the land will be set at US$2 million per year.

The new land tax scheme, which was originally proposed by MDP MP Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, reduces the government’s income from the tourism sector from Rf 1900 million (US$148 million) to about Rf 1300 million (US$101 million).

“Before the lease rent was set individually for each property and it was very easy for a Minister or the government to modify it,” Mamduh explained, “although there was an index sometimes used to calculate the price based on proximity to international airports.”

Basing land tax on a square-metre basis “actually reduces the rent of most properties,” Mamduh said, explaining that the new GST was intended to offset this loss.

“Both of these will be good for everyone, especially investors, now the ministry cannot play with the axes any more.”

Opposition DRP MP and former Tourism Minister Abdulla Mausoom has previously told Minivan News that a standardised land tax scheme was “not in the best interest of the country”, because fixed prices did not give the government flexibility when investors were willing to pay a better price.

“The Maldives is very small and our natural resources are limited,” Mausoom said in April.

“We should facilitate and investor-friendly environment without eliminating the competitiveness of the market.”

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Lithuanian company reveals plans to open ‘Island of Blondes’ in the Maldives

A Lithuanian company has unveiled plans to build an ‘Island of Blondes’ in the Maldives, a resort it claims will be staffed exclusively with “beautiful blonde young women”, featuring “entertainments”, spa centres and an education centre “which will teach female guests to always be perfect and look great.”

The resort will be constructed under the Lithuanian brand Olialia, managed by the small European country’s largest newspaper, Vakaro Žinios. The company also operates a pizzeria, payment card, limo and bus service, and sells ice-cream, soft drinks, chips, and computers decorated with Swarovski crystals, and runs parties at popular Lithuanian nightclubs.

Local tourism industry website Maldives Traveller revealed that the project was expected to open in 2015 and would be funded by investors from Lithuania, Russia, UK, Germany, United Arab Emirates and an undisclosed Maldivian travel company.

In an interview with Maldives Traveller, Olialia’s Giedre Pukiene told the website that the company was already in negotiations “with the owners of several atolls, who are ready to cooperate in the creation of the island of blondes.”

The working title of the resort is to be ‘Olialia Paradise’, Pukiene told Maldives Traveller, but noted that this was subject to change.

The project will also include the creation of an airline and yacht service for visitors to the island, both staffed exclusively by blondes.

“The pilots and stewardesses on the planes will also be blonde only,” Pukiene confirmed.

On paper, the project is likely to encounter logistical difficulties. Resorts in the Maldives are obligated to employ at least 50 percent Maldivian staff who naturally have dark hair. Olialia has not revealed whether local staff will be required to use bleach.

State Minister of Tourism Mamduh Waheed said he was unaware of the proposed project, but noted that the Ministry of Tourism had no involvement in negotiations between operators and leaseholders.

“The Ministry officially has no role to play in negotiations, and I think it would be out of line for us to do so, but we certainly facilitate and assist those operators seeking to acquire property,” Mamduh explained.

If it goes ahead, the project would take the country’s tourism industry in a different direction to that proposed in May by visiting Islamic speaker Dr Zakir Naik, who noted that investing in a resort profiting from the sale of alcohol was already technically haram (prohibited), and recommended the country encourage investment in halal (permitted) tourism.

Such resorts, he suggested, should be “exclusively halal, free of pork and alcohol, and with proper segregation and dress code – it will be a benefit.”

President of the Adhaalath Party and State Minister for Home Affairs, Sheikh Hussain Rasheed, said that even if a company attempted to open a resort as the one proposed by Olialia, ”nothing against the Tourism Act can be conducted in the Maldives.”

”Tourism is not bad itself, but it can also be conducted in a bad way,” he said. “Ever since the beginning of tourism in the country has become broader day to day, and the government has established the Tourism Act to maintain and organise the industry,” said Sheikh Rasheed, explaining that the employment of female staff was also regulated by the Tourism Act.

”There should also be a percentage of Maldivians in all the resorts, according to the Act,” Sheikh Rasheed explained. ”I don’t really think the Tourism Act allows such an island to be developed in this country.”

State Minister for Islamic Affairs Sheikh Mohammed Shaheem Ali Saeed had not commented at time of press.
Head of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), Sim Mohamed Ibrahim, said he thought the idea was “beyond a gimmick” and “so totally spectacular and different a business model that it could very well succeed.”
Sim said he did not believe such a resort should encounter objections from the conservative establishment in the Maldives, “because if [the country] objects by singling out a physical characteristic, we’re not going to attract anybody.”
The ‘Island of Blondes’ is not the first ambitious resort development to be proposed in the Maldives.

In March the government signed an agreement with Dutch Docklands to develop a gigantic floating golf course, holding a signing ceremony in the President’s office.

”Golf has a good market in the world, and most of our resorts do not have a golf centre due to lack of space,” observed Press Secretary for the President Mohamed Zuhair at the time.

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Q&A: Marco Cisini, CEO of tour operator Hotelplan Italia

Hotelplan is a Swiss-based tour operator that has operated in the Maldives for 25 years and is a key player in the Italian market, bringing 20,000 tourists to the country each year. Minivan News spoke to the CEO of Hotelplan Italia, Marco Cisini, during his recent visit to the Maldives.

JJ Robinson: What is the occasion of this visit?

Marco Cisini: We are ending a 25 year long love story with Maafushivaru (in Ari Atoll) and Universal Group. We decided it was very important we come and visit before the island closed and is refurbished and upgraded. After that it will go to a new tour operator.

JJ: How has the market changed over 25 years?

MC: It has changed a lot – for a start, the number of flights arriving. A wide number of offerings have been built in last 20 years, and while there are islands at price, when the government identified the power of tourism it decided to increase the rates and taxes, for that reason a lot of deluxe hotels were built rather than four or three star properties.

The occupancy depends on the quality and quantity of clientele you can find for these products. Today the quality of the products – and the professionalism – has increased a lot. Quality in the Maldives is a target that has been reached, and while certainly some things could still be done better, generally the suppliers are well organised and it’s working very well.

We are pleased that the country is becoming much more modern and flexible in its ideas, and we remain good investors in this country because we believe in the future of this place.

At the same time we know there are new markets coming in, from Asia especially, that will absolutely give an international image to the country.

JJ: The market for tourism in the country has traditionally been very Eurocentric – have you considered broadening into these new markets?

MC: Hotelplan is an international company based in Zurich and is present in England, Switzerland, France and Italy. Obviously as the CEO of Hotelplan Italia I am looking at the Italian market, but as a company we are looking at these emerging markets.

However to sell product such as we are selling, you need to be well integrated into the [source] country and be identified as a country expert. It’s much easier to buy an existing company rather than build a new company in these emerging places. But we are absolutely watching the new potential for business.

JJ: What is unique about the Italian market?

MC: Italians like to have fun, and we try to create an atmosphere with our T-Club concept. The meaning comes from ‘tea’: the idea of it being an elegant moment in your day.

One friend brings another friend, friends bring families, and you spend time together in a group while not feeling you are in a group, doing activities that you cannot do alone.

We also try and add to the nature of a place, by bringing specialists such as astronomers, biologists – people who can really give the clients information about the environment. The aim is to have fun and to think.

JJ: The traditional image of Maldives tourism is that of a European in a beach hammock slipping a Pina Colada. Has this changed? Are tourists demanding more?

MC: I wonder. I hope. Everybody coming and lying down on the beach – that is the general mass identification. But everyone wants to be different to each other, and now people are looking for something new, a new experience, and new sensations. That’s why eco-concepts are important – thinking while travelling, and understanding where you are.

For example, you can say to someone: ‘Let’s watch a 50s movie.’ You might reply, ‘Nice, but it’s not my plan see a movie.’ But then I say ‘OK, if you do, the meeting point is at the jetty.’

So you jump on a boat, go to a real desert island with a sandy beach in middle of the sea, with a computer and a projector. All you see around you is water, and you are with 20-30 people sitting on the beach under the stars. This is a  movie you will never forget your entire life.

It’s not important what you do, but how you do it – people are looking for these types of emotions. We know people on holiday are looking for something like this, but how do you give them an experience with such strong emotions?

Think of how many hotels there are in the Maldives and all over the world. To be different you cannot just be different in style and service, because people take these things for granted – they paid for it.

JJ: What are the particular challenges of operating in the Maldives?

MC: The challenges are many. Today the major challenge is the people. We found in our suppliers a lot of good people we have worked with for 20-30 years, and helped upgrade them in terms of business know how. Over the last 20 years people have learned and studied a lot, and the quality and organisation is much better.

The challenge in the beginning was to be a pioneer. You were discovering and building a destination with all of the problems of building something in the middle of the sea.

We put in a lot of effort to help people here to be able to make all these places – how to be organised, providing know-how, information, instruments… and we found a lot of them very open to learn. This is something you don’t find in every country, especially when you start as pioneer. A lot of people don’t see the potential future.

JJ: Do you consider the Maldives a politically stable environment in which to operate?

MC: I have to say that since September 11 there are no more stable places. One of the major ways to get attention from the world is through [violent] actions, and stupid people are everywhere. That exposes any country to risk – also my own country.

JJ: The issues of labour rights and industrial disputes have surfaced recently at several resorts. Is this something you think guests are interested in? Do they want to know that resorts are treating staff fairly?

MC: What I can say is that it’s not easy to manage an international group of people from many different countries who speak different languages and have different religions, and to respect all of them. As I told you, countries must build and upgrade themselves when they face international markets, and this takes time.

On the other side, this orientation to look for money everywhere has to include respect for people and labour laws. This must be done. In our experience we have never felt this was a problem – the staff at Maafushivaru were perfect.

JJ: Do you have plans to further expand in the Maldives?

MC: We looking for new destinations and new islands. We are following new developments in the southern part of the country, and we are one of the two operators present in the Gan project. The Maldives is a target for us, and we would like to be friends with this country and follow the directions it takes. We feel the need to be present and to protect the culture of this place.

JJ: The resorts have historically been kept separate from the rest of the country – at least as far as tourism is concerned. Do you think this will continue?

MC: I think in this environment it is not easy to combine cultures – especially the beach holiday concept. But we are trying to combine these things.

JJ: Some in the industry claim that a declining demand for luxury properties is becoming offset by a lot of demand for lower star hotels. Does your experience reflect this?

MC: In winter time, you have good clients in terms of potential for five star. There is no problem with demand in Winter. But in the Summer season it is much more complicated because of the proximity of places like the Meditteranean, which are similar in terms culture and have better weather.

In Summer the European demand must be combined with demand from other markets to rebalance occupancy – such as opening the Chinese and Indian markets here. But if the [resorts] think only Europeans can afford to fill the occupancy of these hotels all year long, it’s not enough. The demand is not enough.

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IGMH management agreement with Apollo still “yet to be decided”: Zubair

The agreement between India’s Apollo Group and the Maldives government to manage Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) has stalled, after the private healthcare giant failed to submit a required operational management agreement by the July deadline.

“We were supposed to receive a plan by the end of July,” said State Health Minister Dr Abdul Bari. “They required additional information which we have provided.”

The operations management agreement was to be submitted following a situational analysis of the hospital.

That agreement said that both parties were required to cement the deal and sign the 12 year management agreement by the end of July.

Dr Bari said the government had requested an update from Apollo, but insisted the hospital’s future was not in limbo.

Managing Director of IGMH Mohamed Zubair said the hospital was not preparing for a management change, but noted that the deal “has neither failed nor succeeded. It is yet to be decided.”

“Apollo is an expert group and would bring a lot of benefits to the people,” he said. “They have the capacity to raise the existing standards. But even if they do not come we will continue trying to improve services.”

However the delay was making “little investments” more difficult, he said.

Apollo has previously estimated that it will need to spend US$25 million to bring the hospital up to global standards.

Chairman of the privatisation committee Mahmood Razee said following announcement of the agreement in January that one of the first changes to be made by Apollo would be to management.

“The major issue was that the management structure [at IGMH] was not working properly, this led to high costs and some services and medicines not being available. The overall quality of service went down,” he said.

Apollo also signalled its intentions to make 80 percent of hospital employees Maldivian over a 15 year period, although it was unclear as to how this would be achieved given the lack of medical higher education facilities in the country.

In April, a series of alleged blunders at the hospital – including wrong injections being given, a woman who claimed to have had a vein sewn into her skin and parents of a suicidal adolescent who complained their son suffered a motorbike accident and was discharged after being given an IV – highlighted a system under pressure.

Earlier this month the victim of a stabbing told Minivan News that doctors at IGMH had stitched his wound and sent him home, “but I did not feel well. I was having difficulty breathing, but since they said I was fine, I thought I was fine,’’ he said.

“Later, I realised air was spreading inside my body and my back, chest, neck and arms were puffing up. Doctors at ADK said that I had been stabbed in the lungs and that one of my lungs had stopped functioning. They said if I had been any later the air would have reached my brain and they would not have been able to help me.”

IGMH was originally gifted to the Maldives by the government of India.

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Chinese woman dies while snorkeling at Paradise Island

A 48-year old Chinese woman who had been snorkeling at Paradise Island Resort and Spa was pronounced dead this morning.

The woman was pulled from the water and rushed to ADK Hospital in nearby Male’ around 10:45am.

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam said ADK confirmed the woman was dead on arrival, and that the police investigation was now focusing on whether she was dead when she was pulled from the water.

The resort said it could not give any information on the matter until the conclusion of the police investigation.

The death of the Chinese woman comes just days after a top UK transplant surgeon died in the water while snorkeling at the Adaaran Meedhupparu Resort in Raa Atoll.

61 year-old Ali Bakran was on holiday with his wife Diane and daughter Miriam when he was pulled from the water and pronounced dead on August 27. The resort’s management would not confirm or deny the report.

Mohamed Ibrahim ‘Sim’ from the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI) said yesterday that Chinese guests in particular needed to be made more aware of the dangers of snorkeling in the Maldives, “because it is a totally different environment than what they are used to.”

While UK tour operators passed on advice and information to tourists, China was a relatively new market “and the operators need to be made aware also,” Sim added.

“Few resorts have reception staff or guides who speak Mandarin.”

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.

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IFJ alarmed at MJA claims of spike in hostility towards media

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has issued a press statement expressing alarm at “increasing hostile actions against independent media in the Maldives.”

Verbal attacks and vandalism by unknown persons against private broadcaster VTV had contributed to “a climate of intolerance” against the broadcaster, the IFJ said, “according to information received from IFJ affiliate, the Maldives Journalists’ Association (MJA).”

The IFJ statement also noted that “the MJA has drawn attention to a threat of action held out against VTV by ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik, leader of the Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) parliamentary group, following what the MDP leader characterised as ‘repeated’ broadcasts of news stories critical of his party.”

The IFJ further repeated claims by the MJA that Head of the Male’ Municipality Adam Manik had “reportedly attacked” a cameraman belonging to private broadcaster DhiTV, and confiscated his camera.

Manik admitted taking the camera but denied attacking the cameraman, following the incident last week, and returned the item in the presence of police.

“Cameramen are not allowed to film on government property without authorisation,” he said, adding that “the media is too occupied with making the news instead of reporting it.”

IFJ Asia Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said the international organisation “supports the MJA’s effort to dissuade the officials responsible for these incidents, and indeed all individuals, from persisting with such hostile actions against journalists and media organisations.”

“The physical and verbal attacks on media organisations that have been recurring in the Maldives could create an environment that would be adverse to press freedom in the country,” she added.

Press Secretary for the President, Mohamed Zuhair, said he believed “the facts have been overblown and the IFJ misled.”

“The IFJ ought to know that that media in the Maldives was a state monopoly for 30 years and remains exactly as it was under the former regime, with the only change that it can now report freely,” he said. “This is a new concept for them and is why they feel so uncomfortable being taken to task.”

“The government no longer sponsors private media, and while some public officials may show hostility to the media, there is a broader picture – they are immediately accountable.”

Zuhair further alleged that the majority of the members of the MJA “are apologists and sympathisers of the former regime. I don’t think a single journalist involved in the reform process is in the MJA.”

He also claimed that MDP MP Reeko Moosa’s claims regarding the corruption of media “voiced the allegations of many in his party” that private media was being subverted to serve the political interests of its owners.

“I don’t believe people should invest in media for political purposes,” he said. “You don’t go fishing for political purposes – you go fishing for fish.”

PIC report

The MJA has meanwhile also called for the Department of Information to retract a decision to deduct five points from DhiFM’s broadcasting license, after the Police Integrity Commission (PIC) ruled that a police order for the station to cease covering a riot outside the presidential residence on January 28 violated the police act.

Police claimed that the order was given because the DhiFM coverage was broadcast in such a manner that it was a potential threat to national security, however police failed to convince the commission.

Following the incident, the government’s Department of Information docked five points from DhiFM’s broadcasting license for eight contract violations, with the content review committee claiming that DhiFM’s coverage breached aspects of the code including failing to distinguish between fact and opinion, produce unbiased and balance coverage of controversial/political events, and promoting criminal activities as “something good or acceptable.”

Then-Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr Ahmed Ali Sawad, under whose jurisdiction the Department of Information fells, agreed that “in principle this is not something the executive should be doing. But because there is an existing broadcasting contract [under the former administration’s licensing system] we have to fulfil our duty.

He told Minivan News at the time that the five point deduction out of a possible 100 amounted “to a symbolic gesture”.

The MJA meanwhile called on the government to withdraw the decision after viewing the report published by the Police Integrity Commission, and dissolve the Content Committee of the Department of Information.

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UK transplant surgeon dies while snorkeling at Meedhupparu

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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