The president of the Maldives was unhurt but his wife and two aides were injured in an explosion on Monday on board their launch as it approached Male, capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago, a senior aide told Reuters.
The cause of Monday’s blast, witnessed by journalists who were waiting to meet President Abdulla Yameen on his return from the Haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, was not clear.
Footage aired on television showed chaotic scenes as Yameen’s staff tried to get the injured off the stricken launch onto a police boat as both bobbed on the waves by a jetty.
“There was a explosion at President Yameen’s official speedboat near Male jetty. The president is unhurt, but the first lady was slightly injured,” Mohamed Hussain Shareef, minister at the president’s office, told Reuters.
Yameen, 59, is a controversial figure both at home and abroad. He rose to power in a bitterly contested presidential election in 2013.
