Gulhifalhu fire: Human remains confirmed as missing Afcons worker

Maldives Police Service has confirmed that the human remains recovered after the major fire at an accommodation block of Afcons Infrastructure in Gulhifalhu in the early hours of December 16th belong to the worker from the company that was reported missing in the incident.

Police said that forensic examinations confirmed that the human remains belonged to the missing worker. They also noted that the remains had been flown to India for handover to the deceased’s family last week.

Gulhifalhu houses some 800 workers from Afcons, an Indian contractor awarded multiple projects in Maldives, including the Thilamale’ Bridge project.

This incident resulted in injuries to 76 workers. Out of the 76 people that sustained injuries – 63 people were treated at the Tree Top Hospital in Hulhumale’, while 13 were treated at the Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in Male’.

Two workers reportedly went missing in the fire, which was confirmed after a headcount. One of the workers was located later. Human remains were discovered at the site of the fire during the search for the second worker, who was a truck driver.

A total of 457 workers were impacted by the fire, who were later provided alternate housing.

There are over thousands of Afcon in the Maldives working on Thilamale’ bridge project. While 800 workers are based at Gulhifalhu the remaining 200 are based at Male’ bridge site.