Police are responding to reports of a supply boat, Sealine 3, taking on water and being at risk of sinking in the Kaashidhoo Channel.

The boat had been travelling from Male' to a resort in Raa Atoll, carrying timber. While crossing the Kaashidhoo Channel, the belt securing the timber broke, causing the boat to bank sharply and start taking on water.

Police were alerted at 10am, and officers from the nearest police station, in B. Eydhafushi, immediately took a speedboat to the site. 

In attempts to save the vessel, some of the goods it had been carrying had been unloaded overboard, police said. 

Four men, three Maldivians and an expatriate, had been aboard the vessel at the time of the incident. 

Police are now working with the crew to bail water out of the vessel.