Male' city garage fire: fire did not erupt from Garage; Owner

Thursday early morning's fire might not have originated from the garage, according to the establishment's owner.

Maintaining anonymity, the owner confirmed they shut the garage down by 09:00 p.m. on Wednesday evening, confirming no further operations carried out there for the remainder of the night.

The garage is housed in a three-story building; the west-block of Maafannu Senrose. The building serves as an accommodation block for expatriates which include Indians, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans.

So far Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) has confirmed 11 deaths, nine of them Indian and one Bangladeshi while the most recently recovered victim's nationality has yet to be confirmed.

"There were no indication of anything out of place last night, and no one living in the building had reported of anything strange," the owner commented.

Local authorities confirmed receiving reports of the fire around 12:30 am on Thursday early hours. The blaze was controlled approximately an hour after it erupted, while it took nearly four hours for a complete quell and dissipation of the incident.

According to the garage's owner, he has operated the establishment for nearly a year and half. At the time of incident, two vehicles were inside the building brought for servicing, which had been damaged beyond repair.

Moreover, the owner confirmed material related to construction were stocked at the garage at the time of incident.

"The goods inside the garage will be close to MVR800,000 in value, that is nearly eight years of my work," the disdained garage owner said.

The owner also remarked on the accommodation condition of the building, noting the residence housed multiple expats living in close quarters. The rooms were separated via partitions, said the garage owner.

"Each of these rooms come with gas cylinders used for cooking" the garage owner added, noting the established housed over 30 cylinders.

Meanwhile, the building had experienced two previous fires in various degrees though no casualties were reported in both of the instances.