The harbour area of Hulhudhoo, Addu City was set on fire deliberately by a group of people, according to Island Councilor Hussain Faiz.
Two fires broke out in Hulhudhoo last night; one at a garbage pile in the harbour area and one in the nearby forest. The fire had spread to large number of barrels containing tar.
Councillor Faiz told Mihaaru that it is believed that incident was a deliberate attempt.
"I don't know if tar catches on fire spontaneously, the area is quite wooded," Faiz said.
No one was injured in the fire but it had spread to a large area, he said.
Faiz said that the fire had spread to approximately 4,000-5,000 square-feet of land which contained more than 1,400 barrels of tar mixed in with chemicals.
"A few can be used to some extent," according to Faiz.
He said the area held barrels of tar and chemicals used to build asphalt roads released by the Planning Ministry for road develop during the administration of former President Abdulla Yameen.
Faiz said that the council had brought the matter of these barrels kept without any safety measures to various institutions, including the Planning Ministry and the Environment Ministry.
He said the barrels have been kept in the area for more than seven years. In light of the latest information, Faiz said two ministries were working together to clean up the area.
The road was handed over to Public Works during President Yameen's administration. However, later with the change in government, the work was handed over to Maldives Transport and Contracting Company (MTCC).
"MTCC did not use these materials for road development. They only use stones and gravel. This could because the of the low quality of materials as they are old," Faiz said.
The fire, which broke out at 8:00 pm last night, was extinguished half an hour later.
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