No water In Maldives' capital

In this photograph taken on Thursday, police officials and security personel distribute bottles of water to residents after a fire at a desalination plant affected water supplies in Male. Photo: AFP

Water was cut off to more than 100,000 residents in the Maldives' capital because of a fire in the city's water treatment plant, a minister said yesterday.

Government Minister Mohamed Shareef said the government has declared a crisis situation and appealed to India, Sri Lanka and China and the United States for help.

The capital is located on a low-lying island in the Indian Ocean that has no natural water source and depends entirely on treated sea water.

The government provided bottled drinking water free of charge but the people struggled without enough water for washing.

Rajeev Shahare, India's envoy to the archipelago nation said water will be brought in large planes in five flights yesterday and an offshore patrol vessel in the ocean with a water treating facility has been diverted to the Maldives.

Much of the capital was still without drinking water yesterday afternoon and local media reported that angry residents fought and attacked shops that had rationed mineral water, while hotels in the capital said supplies were rapidly running out.

Shareef said it may take days to resume operations in the treatment plant because destroyed parts need to be brought in from abroad, reports AP.

Security forces were distributing water free of charge on the island, which measures just one square-mile (two square kilometres) and houses some 120,000 residents.

But activists said only those able to produce a Maldivian identity card were eligible for the free supplies, meaning thousands of migrant workers from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka would be left out, reports AFP.