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The Maldives Accident Claims Guide – How To Claim Compensation For A Holiday Personal Injury In Maldives?

Holiday accident claims Maldives

Holiday accident claims Maldives

The Maldives, based in the Indian Ocean, has been a popular holiday destination for British Tourists (especially couples) for many years and it is also a popular wedding destination for many. It’s perfect white beaches and turquoise oceans ensure people have a relaxing, luxurious holiday. Even in the most perfect of places accidents causing injuries or illness could happen.

If you’ve been injured on holiday in The Maldives, due to the negligence of a third party and want advice about the possibility of pursuing a personal injury claim , then call Legal Expert on 0800 073 8804 now. If you’d like to know more first then carry on reading this guide which will explain the types of accidents people could claim for, what to do in an emergency and how long you have to begin your claim when you return to the UK.

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A Guide To Holiday Accident Claims In The Maldives

The Maldives are a group of atolls (or islands) in the Arabian sea between India and Sri Lanka. They have long been a popular honeymoon destination or relaxing holiday destination for British couples looking a quiet beach holiday in the Indian sun. Following a political coup attempt earlier in 2018 people ask ‘is it safe to visit the Maldives’ but the situation has calmed down now and British Government advice is that the Maldives are currently fine to travel to.

Most people holiday without any troubles but there could be times when accidents causing injury or illness could occur. Examples of types of accidents and illnesses that could occur in the while on holiday could include:

  • Road traffic accidents
  • Hotel accidents and illnesses
  • Slips, trips and falls
  • Beach or water accidents
  • Food poisoning

If you’ve been involved in any of the above, and you believe it was down to somebody else’s mistake or negligence, then you may be eligible to make a claim for compensation and there are number of steps you can take to make your claim more straight forward when you return to the UK which this guide will describe in detail.

I Was Injured In The Maldives, What Should I Do?

If you’re involved in an accident or become ill while in The Maldives then there are a number of things you could do, if you’re thinking about making a compensation claim when you return to the UK.

In the first instance your number one priority should be to make sure everybody in your group is safe and receives any medical treatment required. This will need to be in conjunction with advice from your travel insurance provider as there is no free healthcare in the Maldives and without insurance any medical bills can be vast. We cover this more in the next few sections and we’ve got another guide with more detail about accident abroad claims but in short the things you could do, in the event of somebody else causing you to become injured, are:

  • Contact your holiday rep or call your package holiday emergency contact number (more info on package holiday claims can be found here) and let them know the details of your accident.
  • Photograph the scene of the accident ensuring that the photo includes the defect or cause of your accident (if, for instance, you tripped over a box in an unlit corridor try to capture the box and the light conditions).
  • Ask any witnesses to write down what they saw as a witness statement and also ask for their contact details. Independent witnesses can be more helpful when lodging your claim.
  • If you’re in a public building such as hotel, shop or museum then report the accident to staff and ask them to log it. If possible, ask for the member of staff’s name and a copy of their report.

Any evidence of your accident that can be gathered at this early stage will make the claim easier to process when you return to the UK. Another type of evidence that is becoming more common, in the event of a car crash, is dashcam footage so try to obtain this if it is available.

How To Contact The Emergency Services In The Maldives

The emergency services in the Maldives are available 24-hours a day by dialing 119. If the enquiry is less important then the contact number for each individual service are:

  • Police: 332 2111 (Police hotline)
  • Ambulance: 102
  • Fire Service: 118

In extreme emergencies a British citizen can call the British Embassy (based in nearby Sri Lanka) 24-hours a day (we’ve included their contact details at the end of this document). The embassy can help with situations where you’ve been attacked, or somebody has died in your accident, you should still call the local emergency services aswell.

How To Get Medical Care In The Maldives

It is important that before you go on any holiday you should take out travel insurance as if you are unfortunate to suffer an injury or illness medical services can be quite expensive. There is no free health care at all in the Maldives and you should ensure that, before you travel, you have taken out completely comprehensive insurance that will cover the cost of any medical treatment required.

Keep a copy of your insurer’s emergency number with you, as well as your insurance cover documents, and get in touch with them as soon as possible if the case of an accident. It may be that they require you to attend a specific hospital or treatment centre, so you should check with them before attending wherever it is possible to do so.

Most resorts will have a medical team to deal with day to day injuries but for serious injuries you’ll probably need to attend a major hospital in the capital city Male. The main one is:

ADK Hospital
Sosun Magu
Male 20040
Maldives
+960 331 3553

As mentioned above, before attending the hospital it is best to check with your travel insurance provider that they will cover the cost of any treatment and have your policy cover document with you to show to staff if they ask to see it. If you are thinking of making a Maldives holiday accident claim call us and we can discuss your case with you.

Holiday Accident Compensation Claim Time Limits In The Maldives

As is the case in most countries around the world there are time limits to make a personal injury claim in the Maldives.

This table shows the type of claims you may be looking to make and shows how long you have to begin your claim.

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Type of Personal Injury Claim Time Limit To Begin The Claim
A personal injury sustained as part of a package holiday booked through a UK tour operator in the UK 3 years may vary
An injury sustained on a cruise ship 2 years may vary

If you’re not sure whether you’re within the time limits then please get in touch and one of our team can check this for you.

Have You Suffered A Package Holiday Illness Or Injury In The Maldives

British tourists who have booked their holiday as part of a package holiday can get extra time to make their claim because of special regulations for package holidays setup by the government in 1992.

To be described as a package holiday you would need to have booked 2 or more elements of your holiday through the same holiday provider such as the flights and the hotel or the flights and excursions which make up a large part of your holiday.

Some of the big operators arranging package holidays to The Maldives are:

  • Virgin Holidays
  • Thomas Cook
  • TUI (formerly Thomson Holidays)
  • In all cases of an accident or emergency you should contact your package holiday provider’s emergency number and let them know. Remember though that their advice on hospital treatment may differ from your insurance provider.

After Being Injured Or Sick In The Maldives, What Claims Could We Help You Make?

The next few sections of this guide will cover examples of holiday accident claims in The Maldives that we could help with. These include; Food Poisoning; Slips, trips and falls; Hotel accidents and illness; Beach or water-based accidents; and Road traffic accidents in the Maldives.

Each of the next sections will describe the types of accident, the causes and what you could do in the event of an accident.

Injured At A Hotel In The Maldives? Can I Claim Compensation?

Examples of accidents that could happen in a hotel in the Maldives. It is vital to remember that not all accidents can lead to compensation claims, people can just have accidents that are no ones fault. For you to be able to pursue to a claim a third party such as the hotel must be liable for the accident that as lead to an injury or illness.

  • Slips, trips and falls: we cover this in more detail later on but if a hotel has a wet floor without warning signs, poorly lit areas where hazards are harder to see, damaged flooring or handrails and this caused you to fall injuring your self you may be eligible to start a case.
  • Food poisoning: Hotel’s have the same duty of protection for its customers as a café, restaurant or bar does when food safety is involved. If you become ill after a meal at a hotel and the doctor or medical professional diagnoses that you’ve been made ill by food poisoning, then you could possibly seek compensation.
  • Swimming pool contamination: Infections or illnesses from swimming pools that haven’t been claimed appropriately can have similar symptoms to food poisoning and can also require medical treatment.
  • Hotel gym based injuries: An injury in a gym where equipment is faulty or you’ve not been shown how to use it properly could cause serious complications. If you have suffered an injury in such a scenario call Legal Expert to see if you have grounds for damages.

We’ve covered a few examples of hotel accident injuries and illness, but any injury caused by negligence in a hotel could be considered for a no win, no fee compensation claim.

I Suffered Food Poisoning Abroad Can I Claim Compensation?

Food poisoning generally occurs when food isn’t cooked thoroughly enough, has been stored incorrectly or re-heated incorrectly and could lead to some horrible illnesses. A minor case may lead to a few days of an upset stomach, but a serious case can lead to life-threatening complications.

We’ve got another guide on restaurant claims but if you’ve been diagnosed by a doctor with food poisoning then the hotel, restaurant, café or bar could be liable if it can be proven that they were the cause of your illness.

You should attend a medical facility or hospital (depending on the severity of the illness and after checking with your medical travel insurer) to ensure you get the right treatment but following that it’d be worth checking with other guest or members of your party if they were ill as well (as this could be used as a witness statement) or, if you can see evidence of poor hygiene in the restaurant in question then try to photograph the scene as further evidence.

Injuries From Falling Over In The Maldives

Slips, trips and falls are very common no matter where we are and often they are just simple mistakes on our part where we weren’t paying attention, messing around or distracted by something but if the fall was because of someone else’s mistake, poor maintenance or any other type of negligence then call us to see if you could claim for your pain and suffering plus any financial losses and personal damages to your property.

Examples of causes of slips, trips and falls could include:

  • Poorly maintained or damaged walkways, stairs, flooring or kerbs. If you’ve tripped over because of a uneven paving slab, loose floorboard or broken kerbstone then it’d be worth trying to photograph the damage to help prove your claim. Also make a note of the location or business name (as you may forget by time you’ve returned to the UK) as we could try to find out who is responsible for your injury (which could be a business, hotel, shop or local authority).
  • Wet flooring with no warning signs: If a floor is being cleaned or has become wet for any reason and there are no warning signs and you slip then the business owner could be liable for not making it clear to customers or visitors that there was a slip hazard. Again, try to photograph the scene as evidence.
  • Poorly lit areas with trip hazards: Trips could happen purely because you couldn’t see what would normally be an obvious trip hazard (a small step for instance) due to there being poor or no lighting.

Trips and falls could lead to very painful injuries including broken bones, head injuries, strains, soft tissue damage and spinal injuries all of which could lead to surgery and long periods of recovery.

Beach Or Water Accidents

Tourists in the Maldives take the opportunity to take on some once in a lifetime activities while in such warm climates. Any operator of these activities should ensure there is adequate training, supervision and safety equipment available. If you’ve become injured while taking on an activity type excursion and you feel the operator was to blame, then call Legal Expert to discuss your case.

Car Crashes And Other Road Traffic Accidents

While you’re on a resort the atmosphere can be very relaxed and tranquil, but the opposite can be true on the major roads in Male (the capital of the Maldives).

If you’re involved in a car crash in the Maldives, then you should:

  • Ensure treatment is sought for any injured member of your party (remembering to contact your medical insurer as soon as possible).
  • Ask the other driver involved for their contact details, insurance details and licence plate number.
  • Photograph the scene of the accident ensuring that the photograph includes as much of the layout of the accident as possible and at the same time include the other vehicles number plate.
  • Get any witnesses details and ask them to write down what they saw if possible as it will be easier while it’s still fresh in their minds.
  • Contact the police if there is a suspicion of a crime being committed such as dangerous driving, drink-driving or driving with no insurance.
  • In the case of a serious road traffic accident in the Maldives you should ensure that the police are called or you contact the British High commission and let them know about your accident and injuries.

After you return to the UK please contact us to discuss the details of your case and we’ll advise what course of action we could take.

Do I Need To Use A Solicitor In The Maldives?

When you make a holiday accident claim in the Maldives you may think that you have to employ a local personal injury lawyer in the Maldives to make your claim. This isn’t always the case and we believe doing so could make a claim much more difficult.

We have a team of specialist personal injury solicitors, based in the UK, who could possibly help with all personal injury claims in the Maldives. We believe it is much easier because you can speak to our team at a suitable time of day (as there is no time difference to deal with) and also our team can deal with all of the complexities of understanding the local procedures required to make a claim in the Maldives. Also, you may struggle making a claim with a Maldivian solicitor if there is a language barrier that makes it difficult to understand what is happening with your case.

There is no legal requirement to use a solicitor based in the Maldives so contact Legal Expert today if you’re ready to begin your claim and our UK-based team of specialists will start the process with you if they feel you have a valid claim.

Accident Personal Injury Claims Calculator For An Injury On A Maldives Holiday

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Injury Type Compensation Brackets Injury Information
Minor Neck Injury Up to £2,150 to £6,920 Lower bracket is for full recovery within several months to neck injuries that last from 1/2 years that possibly acceleration and/or exacerbation injuries. Injuries of this kind tend to be soft tissue in nature.
Minor Back Injury Up to £2,150 to £10,970 Injuries in these brackets tend to be concerned with length of time of injury, severity, ability to work etc and include injuries such as sprains disc prolapses and soft tissue injuries.
Moderate or Minor Injury to the Elbow Up to £11,040 Brackets include: simple fractures, tennis elbow syndrome and lacerations.
Very Minor Wrist Injuries £3,090 to £4,160 Undisplaced or minimally displaced fractures and soft tissue injuries.
Fracture of Index Finger £7,990 to £10,730 Fracture has been repaired, not fully able to grip.
Moderate Hip Injury £23,310 to £34,340 Hip replacement or surgery needed or necessary in the future to significant pelvis or hip injury but permanent disability not a great risk.
Moderate Knee Injury Up to £12,050 to £22,960 Twisting and bruising of the knee where recovery is almost complete to dislocation, torn cartilage or meniscus which results in minor instability, and minor disability.
Modest Ankle Injuries Up to £12,050 Less serious, minor or undisplaced fractures, sprains and ligamentous injuries.
Food Poisoning £3,460 to £8,360 Varying degree of cramps accompanied by diarrhoea to significant abdominal pain, alteration of the bowel and fatigue.
Trivial Scarring £1,500 to £3,090 Scarring is minor.

No Win No Fee Solicitors For Maldives Holiday Accident Claims

The thing that a lot of clients worry about when commencing with a personal injury claim is the cost of the legal fees, especially when dealing with accidents abroad, which is why Legal Expert offer a service called a Conditional Fee Agreement or CFA which is what most people refer to as no win, no fee agreements.

A CFA means you only have to pay your solicitor legal fees if you win your case and you’ll know what the fee will be right from the start. We offer an initial free consultation where we take all of your details, your description of the accident and any evidence you have and then we let you know our expert opinion. If we advise you to proceed then we’ll work on a no win no fee basis where you only pay us if we win and there’s no up-front fee or any hourly rate to worry about.

Some solicitors charge their clients by the hour even if they lose the case which we think is completely unfair and why we offer the risk-free no win, no fee CFA.

Top Resorts in The Maldives

Here is a list of the 10 resorts in the Maldives:

  • Velaa Private Island
  • Cheval Blanc Randheli
  • One & Only Reethi Rah
  • Anantara Kihavah
  • Gili Lankfanfushi
  • Naladhu
  • The St Regis Maldiv Vommuli Resort
  • Soneva Jani
  • Como Cocoa Island
  • Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa

Biggest Cities in The Maldives

  • Male (Population 104,000)
  • Fuvahmulah (11,000)
  • Hithadhoo (10,000)
  • Kulhudhuffushi (9,500)
  • Thinadhoo (6,400)

Legal expert could help with holiday accident claims in The Maldives at any of the resorts or in any of the cities listed.

How to contact Legal Expert

If, having read this guide, you want to make a claim for your Maldives holiday accident and you would like to use the Legal Expert no win, no fee service then there are a number of ways in which you can get in touch with us:

We’re here to answer any questions and our team of UK based no win, no fee solicitors could possibly help with any type of personal injury claim sustained while on holiday abroad in the Maldives so please get in contact with us today.

Useful links

Here are some useful links for travelling and holiday accident claims in the Maldives. There isn’t a British Embassy based in the Maldives, but we’ve included the contact details for the embassy in Sri Lanka who can help if you’re involved in an emergency while in the Maldives

British High Commission Colombo
38 Bauddhaloka MW
Colombo 7
Sri Lanka
Tel: +94 11530639
Web: https://www.gov.uk/world/organisations/british-embassy-maldives

Opening hours: Monday to Thursday 8am to 4.30pm, Friday 8am to 1pm

NHS Fit For Travel guide for the Maldives – a guide by the NHS around healthcare and vaccinations required before travelling to the Maldives.

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    Meet The Team

    • Patrick Mallon

      Patrick is a Grade A solicitor having qualified in 2005. He's an an expert in accident at work and public liability claims and is currently our head of the EL/PL department. Get in touch today for free to see how we can help you.

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