Maldives Blast.. 2 Brit expatriates from Qatar injured

TWELVE tourists, including two British nationals, have been wounded in a Maldives bomb blast.

The homemade bomb exploded outside Sultan Park just after 3pm local time in the capital of Male, leaving the 12 people with burn injuries, government spokesman Mohamed Shareef said.

“The Maldives has never had something like this before. We are taking this very seriously because tourism is our life blood,” Shareef said.

Local media reported the bomb was made from a washing machine motor attached to a gas cylinder.

Witnesses reported seeing nails scattered in the park, before the area was cleared by local security forces.

The two British tourists were staying on Baros, just one of 87 designated tourist islands in the ocean chain.

A spokeswoman for Universal Resorts, a firm based in the Maldives that owns some resorts, including Baros, confirmed that two British guests had been injured.

She said the couple, who live in the Gulf state of Qatar, were already
preparing to fly back to the Middle East.

“As far as we are aware Universal Resorts have a total of 10 guests who were injured, two of whom were UK citizens that actually live in Qatar,” she said.

“Those two guests are being taken care of in the hospital in Male and are with Universal Resorts staff.

“They have requested that they would like to go back to Qatar as soon as possible.”

One Japanese and eight Chinese tourists have also been confirmed among the injured.

The population of the state is Islamic, but the threat of terrorism is classed as “low” in the Foreign Office advice to tourists.

Thousands of tourists from the UK visit the idyllic islands each year, many of them couples on their honeymoon.

Tourists normally stay on resort islands away from the capital but usually pass through Male to get there.