Elderly man hospitalised after chemical attack

The police are searching for a suspect who threw chemicals on the face of a 71-year-old man Tuesday morning on the island of Dhuvafaru in Raa atoll.

Ibrahim Mohamed was attacked around 4:30am while he was walking to the mosque for dawn prayers. After undergoing treatment at the Dhuvafaru health centre and the Raa atoll regional hospital, he was transferred to the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in the capital. 

“He was wearing his contact lenses and it melted into his right eye. So doctors are treating him for that. His left eye is fine now after treatment,” the victim’s brother-in-law, Ahmed Ali, told the Maldives Independent.

He added that Ibrahim, a mortician who works at the island’s cemetery, was in shock and unable to open his eyes at first.