Flights canceled, Maldivians stranded at Bandaranaike Airport

The ongoing torrential rain in Sri Lanka has caused flight disruptions at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), resulting in a large number of Maldivians being stranded at BIA.

As SriLankan Airlines flights to Male' and Gan from BIA have been canceled, Maldivian passengers who were scheduled to travel via said flights are now stranded at BIA. Passengers were made aware of the cancellations only after they had arrived at the airport.

As per information, a lot of individuals have not had their flights rescheduled, along with tourists in transit at Colombo being stranded in Sri Lanka as well.

As per sources, as passengers were told they would receive seats on FitsAir and Emirates flights scheduled to fly to Maldives, a large number of Maldivian passengers had gone to the airport. Nevertheless, it is unclear as to whether passengers who were scheduled to leave on SriLankan Airlines were able to be accommodated by the flights.

The SriLankan Airlines flight that was cancelled today had Maldives' youth national football team as passengers as well. Their flight back to Maldives has now been scheduled for tomorrow after they had gotten to the airport and found out their flight had been cancelled.

As per a statement released by the Maldivian Embassy yesterday, Sri Lanka has announced a Red Alert status due to Cyclone Ditwah, which has caused torrential rainfall, flooding and hazards such as landslides.

The statement also appealed that only essential trips be taken, for Maldivians to not go to areas where flooding and hazards were in occurrence and to not leave their houses during times of heavy rain and strong winds.

The statement went on to appeal to safely store essential food items, water, and medicine, to keep phones charged, and to keep important documents in safekeeping.

An emergency hotline by the number of 1912 has been arranged for tourists traveling to Sri Lanka who may have experienced harm due to the rain. Relevant agencies in Sri Lanka have also said that the hotline will be operational for 24 hours out of the day.

Due to Cyclone Ditwah and the subsequent flooding and landslides, 123 people have been killed, with an additional 130 people currently missing.