A domestic flight carrying passengers from Male’ City to Kulhudhuffushi City was forced to return back to the capital on Sunday, due to bad weather conditions in northern Maldives.
National airline, Maldivian’s flight Q2442 was scheduled to land at the Kulhudhuffushi Airport at around 09:40 am.
However, the strong winds and heavy rain in the area forced the flight to divert.
The flight had hovered over the airport for a long period of time, before making another unsuccessful attempt to land at the airport in N. Maafaru.
It was finally forced to return to Male’, landing at the Velana International Airport at around 11:00 am.
The incident comes with a white weather alert in effect for the area from HA. Atoll to Lh. Atoll. The alert is in effect for until at least 04:00 pm, with the Maldives Meteorological Service warning of heavy rain and thunderstorms, strong winds of 19-24 miles per hour with gusts of 40 miles per hour, as well as rough seas.
White Alert for heavy rain, strong winds and rough seas, pic.twitter.com/i2nUCjbokG
— Maldives Meteorology (@MetMaldives) June 15, 2025
The weather agency has attributed the current spell of bad weather to the intensification of the active Southwest Monsoon, locally known as the Hulhangu Monsoon.
The agency expects the weather to begin to clear in southern regions on Monday, and in northern and central regions on Tuesday.