Scuffles erupt as Maldivian capital suffers water crisis

Former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed drinks water after addressing loyalists in Male on February 8, 2012

Malé (Maldives) - Drinking water had to be airlifted into the Maldivian capital Friday as desperate residents scuffled and attacked shops over dwindling supplies of bottled water following a fire at a desalination plant.

India said it had begun airlifting supplies onto the island as authorities scrambled to repair the damage to Male's main desalination plant, which caught fire on Thursday.

Local media said scuffles broke out as residents tried to buy up bottled water in Male, one of the most densely populated places in the world.

However, residents said much of the capital was still without drinking water on Friday afternoon and local media reported that angry residents attacked shops that had rationed mineral water.

Security forces were seen distributing water free of charge at a few locations on the island, which measures just one square-mile (two square kilometres) and houses some 120,000 residents.

"Indian assistance arrives in Maldives. First IL-76 with drinking water from India lands in Male," India's foreign ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.

The Maldives, home to 330,000 Sunni Muslims, is one of the biggest tourist destinations in South Asia.

But the crisis has not affected the country's upmarket tourist resorts, which by law have their own power generation and desalination plants.

Officials said the Maldives had asked for assistance from both India and Sri Lanka. -AFP