Tag: death

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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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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Boyfriend of Sheereen denies murder charges

Mohamed Najaah, boyfriend of Mariyam Sheereen who’s body was discovered in a construction site in January, has denied murder charges raised against him by the Prosecutor General’s office.

Deputy Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem raised murder charges against Najah in court and presented two witnesses: a taxi driver and a person who lived in the same apartment.

Police allege that Najah murdered Sheereen in the apartment in which they both lived, before putting her body into a 2.5 foot-long suitcase and transporting it to the construction site by taxi cab.

Shameem presented a man identified as Haneef who lived in the same apartment with Sheereen and Najaah as a witness, and also the taxi driver who carried the suitcase.

The body of 30 year old Sheereen was discovered 36 hours after death in a construction site in Male’ on January 3 by a Bangladeshi labourer. Her family reported to police that she had been missing from December 31, 2009.

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Child’s body found in Baa Atoll

The body of a child was discovered in Kamadhoo of Baa Atoll, report the Maldives Police Service.

Police reported that the body was discovered in the sea by islanders and that the boy was dead when he was carried to hospital.

Police are now investigating the case.

Daily newspaper Haveeru reported that the boy was one year and six months old. The newspaper reported that the boy fell into the sea while he was playing near the island’s jetty.

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Criminal court orders release of seven men arrested on suspicion of murdering 17 year-old

The Criminal Court last night ordered the release of seven men arrested by police in connection with a series of stabbings over the weekend, including the murder of a 17 year-old boy n Friday.

The boy was stabbed in the leg as he was climbing into a lorry, severing a major artery, and slowly bled to death despite eight hours of treatment and blood transfusions.

A police media official said the seven men were arrested after police received information that the men were connected to the death of the 17 year-old boy, and that they had planned similar attacks.

“It is the duty of the police to maintain the peace of the society under article number 49 of the Constitution,’’ he said. “So in order to prevent further attacks they had planned, we requested the Criminal Court grant an extension of their detention, as we had information that there were more planned attacks.’’

He said that all seven men had recent police records of assault and battery and other gang-related crimes.

‘’But the Criminal Court, however, released them,” he added.

Minivan News understands that senior police are furious at the court’s ruling.

“At dawn, some people attacked the private property of a very senior police officer. They burned his motorbike, which cost over Rf100,000,’’ the spokesperson noted, when queried as to the current state of security in Male’.

When Minivan News called the mobile phone of Spokesperson for the Criminal Court Ahmed Riffath, seeking a comment on the ruling, the man who answered claimed Riffath was not there he did not know when or how he could be reached, and quickly hung up.

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17 year old bleeds to death after gang-linked triple stabbing

Police are investigating the murder of a 17 year old boy who was stabbed to death by a group of men during an apparent gang fight.

The 17 year old was stabbed in the leg on Friday afternoon near the Social Centre in Maafannu, Male’.

He was admitted to Indira Gandi Memorial Hospital and treated for more than eight hours in the Intensive Care Unit, but the knife severed a major artery and despite an emergency blood transfusion he died the following morning at 6:15am.

He was was buried that afternoon at Aasahara cemetery.

A person familiar with the matter told Minivan News the boy was stabbed when he climbed onto the back of a lorry after watching a football match at Maaziya football ground.

“He was with his friends on a lorry and about to leave, when they were attacked by a group of people people armed with stones and sticks,” the source said. “After a while they came close and stabbed him with a knife. Two other boys were also stabbed, one in the chest and another in the leg.’’

All three victims were taken to IGMH around 6pm.

One of the victims told Minivan News today that a squad of police were active in the area prior to the incident but were unable to control the eruption of violence in the area.

‘’Police officers were running around, but they seemed shocked and didn’t know what to do,’’ said the victim. “The police officers didn’t help, so I ran to IGMH with my friend.’’

The IGMH doctors stitched his wound and told him it was fine, he said.

‘’I was discharged from IGMH that night and I went 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.’’

He said he went to ADK hospital last night.

‘’Doctors at ADK said that I had been stabbed in the lungs and that one of my lungs had stopped functioning,’’ he said. ‘’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.’’

He was admitted at ADK hospital and had a pipe inserted into his lungs due to stem the internal bleeding.

He said that the other boy who was stabbed had been discharged.

The following afternoon two more boys were stabbed in Mahchangolhi, one in the head and another in the back.

A person familiar with the matter said neither were seriously injured.

“One boy was stabbed neat Mahchangolhi cemetery and other was stabbed near Ameenee building,’’ he said. ‘’It was around 11:00 am in the morning – they were stabbed at the same time, one after the other.’’

Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam confirmed six people were stabbed over the weekend, one fatally.

“Four people were injured on Friday and one of them died. Yesterday afternoon two were injured,’’ he said.

Police have arrested 11 people in connection with the case. Police and Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) launched a special operation on July 15 to investigate gang violence.

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Woman stabs ex-husband to death in Male’

A 21 year-old woman has been arrested after allegedly stabbing her 34 year-old ex-husband to death near Woodapple restaurant in Male’.

Police said the man died in hospital on Tuesday afternoon while he was receiving medical treatment.

Police Sergeant Abdul Muhusin declined to reveal further information on the case “as the investigation is ongoing.”

The criminal court trial began yesterday with murder charges presented against Mariyam Nazaha by state prosecutor Dheebaanaz Fahmy.

According to daily newspaper Haveeru, Fahmy claimed Nazaha hid a knife in her bedroom with the intention of stabbing Hassan Shahid, of Machangoalhi Edhuruge.

Nazaha acknowledged the charges and denied them, Haveeru reported. Her lawyer, Ahmed Abdulla Afeef, said he would review the documents before responding to the charges.

Meanwhile, a person familiar with the matter told Minivan News the victim was stabbed by his ex-wife, after they separated some time ago.

He said he saw the victim run out of Baikendi in the Henveiru district of Male’ yesterday afternoon, enter a nearby shop and ask the shopkeeper to call the police as he had been stabbed.

”At first people in the shop thought he was joking, but then he took his hands from the wound and showed them the blood,” said the source. ”He was stabbed once in the lower back.”

The source told Minivan News that two passing police men stopped and assisted the injured man, while police headquarters sent more officers to the scene.

”He was taken to ADK hospital for treatment and later died,” he said.

The source claimed the man was stabbed inside the house where his ex-wife lived.

”He used to come to that house but he was not allowed inside,” the source said. ”They have a child that he comes to visit.”

He said the incident may have been the result of a court ruling yesterday regarding the child’s guardianship.

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Man found dead in woods

A 52 year old man was found dead in the woods of Faresmaathodaa in Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll, after he was believed to have fallen from a coconut tree.

Miadhu reported that Ali Hussain Manik was found by other islanders at 6:00am this morning, nearby a rope used for climbing coconut trees and a carving knife.

The body was taken to the Faresmaathodaa Health Centre where the attending doctor concluded Manik had died on the May 23.

The Police are continuing to investigate the incident, Miadhu reported.

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