Man loses goods in 2 fires, a week apart

Mohammed Saeed has demolished most of his house to build a large living room. He kept the construction materials he bought for the renovation of his home stored in a family member's house.

Last week, in the fire in HDh. Makunudhoo, most of the family member's house burned down along with the warehouse area. The fire was extinguished by the islanders. Saeed's belongings had almost all completely burnt down.

Putting the damage aside, Saeed continued to work to find a way to shelter the house as soon as possible. Facing the western monsoon, most of his home was in sad disorder.

So he loaded the cargo vessel Horizia that travels between Makunudhoo and Male with MVR 16,000 worth of wood, roofing materials and other household goods so that he could complete renovations as soon as possible.

However, Saeed suffered another loss.

On the way from Male to the island, off Baa atoll, the Horizia boat caught on fire and burnt down within minutes. The 10 people on board were rescued, but no property belonging to Saeed or anyone else was saved.

Two fire incidents that occurred over the span of a few days have burnt a large hole out of Saeed’s life.

"It's an insurmountable loss. One after the other, almost in similar ways," Saeed said.

He said the fire at the Alpha house had burned his warehoused building materials when they were scheduled to be taken out that evening. The goods loaded on the boat that burnt down were also being brought to finish the house as soon as possible.

While the house remains without a roof, the rainy season has arrived. Saeed said the house is being flooded due to the heavy rains now. So, without losing heart, he is still walking around the island today, trying to get at least a piece of cement panels to shelter his house.

Like Saeed, the burning of the Horizia boat caused irreparable losses to many people in Makunudhoo.

The island, which is isolated from the rest of the islands in Maldives, now get a regular freight service after a hiatus of several years. Almost everyone in the island relies on the Horizia boar to bring goods to the island.

It is learned that many people from the island loaded thousands of goods aboard the Horizia: cement, roof panels and wood for the construction of houses; goods needed for the shops; a generator to to install on a boat and all the equipment needed to start a business. The cost of the damage reaches over MVR 500,000 for some people.

The Horizia is a boat rented by a Makunudhoo resident, but owned by someone from another island. The rent alone for the boat is MVR 500,000 per month. Therefore, the sudden incident caused an irreparable loss to the family.

"Our entire family's income depends on the ship. Therefore, the sudden burning of the ship is a huge loss," a family member of the boat captain said.

In addition to Makunudhoo, the ship stops at three islands in Raa atoll too, so the boat also carried the goods of many of the islanders from there.

The family member said the boat started its journey fully prepared for the bad weather, loading extra pumps as well. However, the fire spread to the entire boat within a short time.

The crew of the ship were rescued by a Four Seasons resort boat in the Baa atoll province, but nothing else was saved. The fire on the ship was extinguished by Coastguard, but when the fire was finally put out, the boat sank within moments.

This is one of the biggest fire incidents in Makunudhoo recently. The fire incident in Makunudhoo has caused a huge loss to everyone in the island, and on top of that, the boat burning added to these losses.