Maldives steps up safety with deployment of lifeguards to islands

Tourism Ministry’s Deputy Minister Assad Riza has stated that lifeguards will be deployed on 19 inhabited islands within the Maldives as part of the Water Safety Program commenced by the Ministry.

The program will see lifeguards on active duty in islands where guesthouses or other tourist facilities with more than 100-bed capacity is located. Water safety boards have already been installed in these islands, according to the Ministry.

The islands include islands from A. A, A. Dh, B, L, atolls and other central region atolls of the Maldives. Applications for lifeguards will soon be opened and training will be commenced sometime this month, according to the Minister.

“We are trying to carry out training sessions in Girifushi, in collaboration with MNDF. We will focus on hiring capable people from the islands where the lifeguards will be deployed,” said Riza.

The starting salary of these lifeguards will be around MVR 10,000. This is the first phase of the work, and Riza stated that work was underway to deploy lifeguards in more islands as well.

A recent spike in incidents of tourists drowning in the Maldives has seen the Ministry hold meetings to resolve the causes of such incidents and prevent these incidents in the future.