Police to investigate drone malfunction incident during Independence Day

MACL has requested the police to investigate the incident concerning drones falling from the sky during the new Velana International Airport (VIA) terminal opening ceremony.

A signed letter sent to Police Commissioner Ismail Naveen on Monday by MACL Managing Director Ibrahim Shareef has been leaked on social media.

Shareef told Mihaaru News that the malfunctioning and subsequent falling of drones is something that has to be investigated and that the request has been sent to the police. He also said that the number of drones that fell is unclear and is being looked into.

"We are not well equipped to conduct such an investigation," Shareef stated.

He has expressed distress due to the letter he sent to the police being leaked.

The letter stated that right before the final formation of the drone show, a malfunction caused signals to multiple drones being lost, which caused the drones to lose control and fall to the ground, with some of them being completely lost as well. The letter also stated that MACL and the drone operators had suffered heavy losses due to the incident.

The letter went on to say, according to the drone operators and their own investigation into the matter, a third party may have interfered with the drones frequency or it may have been an interference of some other sort.

The reasons why a third party may be involved, as per the letter, are as follows:

- There were no issues during the drone show rehearsal.

- Various other areas of the airport lost signals during the ceremony, not just the drones.

- A drone show operator stated that no further issues cropped up upon conducting a system reset after the show.

"Even so, the drone operators and MACL are still unclear as to what actually happened," the letter said.

The letter went on to request an investigation be conducted by the police, due to the drone operators suffering some major damage and that damage is still being calculated, and that if MACL is to take responsibility they might incur some serious financial losses.

Fireworks were heavily used during the new VIA terminal opening ceremony, with 19 other places within the Male' region also setting off fireworks.