MTSB Opens Investigation After Seaplane Hits Dock at Noovilu Terminal, Injuring Cabin Attendant
The Maldives Transportation Safety Board says a Maldivian-registered seaplane struck the dock while manoeuvring away from it on Wednesday afternoon. The cabin attendant is receiving medical care, and nobody else was hurt.
The News
The Maldives Transportation Safety Board (MTSB) has opened an investigation after a seaplane struck the dock at the Noovilu Seaplane Terminal at Velana International Airport on Wednesday afternoon, 11 November, injuring the aircraft's cabin attendant.
In a press release dated 12 November and published by the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, the board said a Maldivian-registered seaplane "made contact with the dock while maneuvering away from it". The cabin attendant was injured and is receiving medical care. "No one else was injured," the board said.
The MTSB said it would share further information "as facts are confirmed".
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The release does not name the operator or give the aircraft's registration, the time of the occurrence, the number of people on board, how badly the attendant was hurt, or a cause.
Images from the scene published on Wednesday by the state broadcaster PSM showed a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter on floats, in Trans Maldivian Airways (TMA) livery, sitting low in the water beside the terminal. Neither TMA nor Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL), which runs the terminal, had published a statement on its website at the time of writing.
TMA said on 26 October that it had taken delivery of its 68th aircraft ahead of the peak tourism season. It operates up to 400 flights a day to more than 80 resorts across 16 atolls, all with Twin Otters.
In a May article about its cabin crew, the airline said they are "among the first to step out upon arrival and the last to board before departure", and that their work includes helping to secure the aircraft and supporting passengers' transfer between aircraft and dock.
Step Back
President Mohamed Muizzu established the MTSB with effect from 8 April 2025, through President's Office Directive No. 7/2025. The President's Office said at the time that the board would investigate incidents and accidents in land, sea and civil aviation, and that it would sit under what was then the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation. Its latest release carries a Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation letterhead.
The Noovilu Seaplane Terminal opened in October 2022, alongside Velana International Airport's new runway. The President's Office described it then as the largest seaplane terminal in the world. The then Vice President, Faisal Naseem, said at the opening that the country's seaplane fleet made about 600 flights a day.
The MTSB has not said when it expects to publish its findings.
