Man found dead after falling off barge identified as Chinese

Maldives Police Service, on Friday, identified the man who was found dead after falling overboard a barge en route to Velana International Airport (VIA) as a Chinese national.

The body of Cheng Jia, 38, was discovered off K. Gulhifalhu at around 13:21pm on Thursday afternoon.

The Police said he fell overboard at approximately 12:48pm on Thursday afternoon while trying to board a speedboat from the barge docked off Hulhumale’.

According to the Police, people aboard the speedboat tried to rescue him after he fell overboard. Although they initially saw him underwater, they later lost sight of him. The Police said the speedboat requested help from another nearby speedboat to search for Cheng and also informed the Coastguard of the incident.

Through its search efforts, the Coastguard located Cheng at 13:21pm that afternoon, but he was already deceased.

Maldives experienced severe weather conditions during the past week during which there were several dangerous accidents at sea.