Losing Xie: tragedy on holiday, partner seeks justice

After spending eight grueling years studying to become a medical doctor, Xie, 27, came to the Maldives with his partner Xu to relax and enjoy some happy days, full of hope for the future. However, today Xu is surrounded by sorrow. Before her lies Xie's lifeless body.

"I'm here today to seek justice for Xie. The only thing I want now is justice. I will stop everything else and work to get justice for Xie," Xu said.

Xu and her partner Xie came to the Maldives on the 10th of October to spend their vacation at Rasdhoo Stay, a guesthouse in Alif Alif atoll Rasdhoo. The guesthouse is run by a Chinese couple who also operate an excursion center in Rasdhoo, and attracts many Chinese tourists.

Last Sunday, Xie and Xu decided to go on an excursion with great assurance from the couple running the guesthouse. They guaranteed that they were the most professional and best service provider in Rasdhoo. Xie and Xu were novices to traveling outside of China.

"We departed for the excursion at 8:10 AM that morning with 11 tourists. Among them were elderly people as well. Then there were the guesthouse boss, a Chinese employee, and a Maldivian employee. I later found out that none of these three people had the necessary license or qualifications for this," Xu said.

The excursion trip went on a visit to a shark point, which is more than one hour away from Rasdhoo by boat. Upon arrival, Xu said they were instructed to put on snorkeling gear by themselves, but the proper way to wear it wasn't clearly explained. She said they did it by observing how others were doing it, to the best of their knowledge.

As soon as they arrived and the speedboat stopped, Xu noticed that the current was very strong, and she refused to jump into the water. However, she said the guesthouse owner tried to push her into the water, after which she went into the water slowly by holding one staff’s hand.

"Before entering the water, I asked for a life jacket. But the boss told me that I don’t need it, just saying to trust myself and jump in. What I don't understand is, if there were enough life jackets on the boat for everyone, why didn't they give me one when I asked for it," Xu said.

In her panic, Xu, after trying snorkeling for about 10 minutes, suddenly couldn’t see her partner. And she began to look for him. However, he was nowhere to be seen.

"Then I realized something had gone wrong. I quickly got on the boat and started pleading. With that, they pulled me onto the boat. Even after searching, Xie was nowhere to be seen. He wasn't visible anywhere. I started begging them to find him. With that, everyone started looking for Xie," Xu told Mihaaru News.

When Xie couldn't be found there, the guesthouse owner decided to drive in the direction of the ocean current, and according to his estimation, after driving for about 15 minutes, they found Xie floating face down in the sea, Xu said. Upon seeing this scene, Xu, who had a rescue and first aid license, began working to provide immediate care to Xie.

"I cleared away the fins and slippers on the deck of the launch. As soon as Xie was brought onto the boat, I removed everything on his body, stripped him down, and began performing CPR. I did this myself and another Chinese tourist helped. The Chinese staff tried to do CPR too, but they didn't know how to. There were no first aid facilities available either," Xu said.

"I continued CPR without stopping until the boat reached an island. Stopping CPR at that moment was not something I could do based on the knowledge I had."

As the speed boat approached the nearest island, Alif Alif atoll Mathiveri, within a short time, an island pickup was waiting at the harbor to take Xie to the health center. This was a shocking experience for Xu. Although the attendant who came from the center tried to lift Xie's body, Xu said that CPR should not be stopped. However, she said that they did not pay attention to this.

"The attendant said 'we are professionals'. Saying that, they took Xie away in the island pickup truck and didn’t apply CPR to Xie. I ran after the island pickup and got on it. Then they said they took him to a health center room and started treating Xie. I asked to be let in to give CPR, saying I had a license. But I wasn't given that opportunity," Xu said.

Xu said that at that time, a police officer from Mathiveri Police Station came and introduced herself, but didn't ask any questions about what happened. Xu expressed dissatisfaction, saying that they didn't question another tourist who was there either, and that the police only questioned the guesthouse owner.

Xu didn’t know how Xie ended up drowning.

A while later, Xu said she saw a nurse bringing an ECG machine into the room, and at that point, she knew they were about to declare Xie’'s death.

"After Xie's death was announced, they prepared to send his body to Male'. Then I saw the ambulance coming to collect the body. It was something that deeply saddened me. While my loved one was fighting for his life, no ambulance came, but they brought an ambulance to collect the body," said Xu.

Xu, who came to Maldives with Xie, is now in Hulhumale'. She has requested Maldives Police Service in Male' to investigate the case and resolve it quickly. She has also taken her concerns to senior officials at the Ministry of Tourism.

"I want justice. I don't want money. I hope they are punished, and for this to never happen again. I want the government to work on properly regulating these matters," Xu said.

“As far as I know, this guesthouse does not have any business license, and the snorkeling guides do not have any qualified certificates. Their operating license is said to be leased. In this case without any business documents, they can still operate until now. So, what is the local Maldives tourism regulatory department doing? Why ignore this behavior, ignore safety?”

Xu has been meeting with a team of Maldivian lawyers to explore legal options. Her determination is to not stop until she gets justice for Xie.

"Xie was the only child of his parents. An obedient, sharp child. A caring partner. We had planned to spend our vacation and then go to Europe for further studies. But that will never happen now," Xu said.

"I will also put that on hold. I will dedicate all my time to seeking justice for Xie. His death is a result of negligence of the organizer."