An explosion hit a speedboat carrying the President of the Maldives and his entourage, injuring the first lady and two other people, a government minister said.
President Abdulla Yameen was not hurt in the blast, which took place Monday as the boat was pulling away from a jetty in Male, the capital, said Mohamed Hussain Shareef, the minister at the President’s Office.
The explosion caused the walls inside the boat to cave in, tossing the passengers around and showering them with debris, Shareef told CNN.
Shareef said the cause of the blast was unknown, but a mechanical problem was “the predominant theory that investigators are looking into.”
“But what they have made clear is that they’re not ruling out other theories at this point,” he said.
Shareef had earlier suggested it would be “extremely unusual” for a mechanical fault to set off such an explosion.
Offers of assistance with the investigation had been received from the United States, Australia, India and Saudi Arabia, he said.
Security around Yameen has been stepped up following the blast.
The President’s wife, Fathimath Ibrahim, suffered “extensive but not life-threatening” injuries to her lower back, the minister said.
She was in a lot of pain and would require further bed rest, he said, but “it could have been a lot worse.”
A bodyguard was also hurt by falling debris, and a government official suffered injuries to her hand and leg.
All three of them are being treated at the main government hospital in Male.