COLOMBO: A British honeymoon couple badly injured in a weekend bomb blast in the Maldives were evacuated by air ambulance on Wednesday for further treatment, a senior minister said.

An International SOS plane chartered by the Maldivian government took off with Christian and Jennifer Donelan, both 32, from Male International Airport early on Wednesday, Tourism Minister Mahamood Shougee said.

“They will be flown to Manchester in Britain to undergo further medical treatment,” Shougee told AFP by telephone from the Maldivian capital Male.

He said the couple’s medical and evacuation bill of just under $200,000 was shared between four Maldivian businessmen and the government.

The Donelans may need skin grafts after they were burnt in Saturday’s crude bomb attack at Sultan Park, doctors in Male said.

The couple, who live in Qatar, married in Italy two weeks ago and were on their honeymoon in the Indian Ocean atoll nation, one of South Asia’s most exotic holiday destinations.

The bomb, packed with nails and detonated by mobile phone, was the first terrorist strike of its kind in the islands, which is about 700 kilometres southwest of Sri Lanka.

Two Japanese and eight Chinese tourists were also hurt in the blast.

The number of bomb suspects arrested has risen to 14, including four foreigners, police said. Two are Bangladeshi expatriate workers to whom the mobile phones used in the attack were traced.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Abdulla Riyaz told reporters in Male that they have recovered a motorbike used by the bombers which was abandoned outside a mosque in the city.

Divers had recovered the mobile phone and a SIM card from the harbour area near the international airport after one of the suspects tipped police off, Riyaz said.

He said officers from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have joined the team and have been “very helpful.” “The investigation is ongoing... It is too early to say whether it is linked to Islamic extremism. We do not know if foreign groups are involved,” he said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

So far 40 tourists, mainly from Japan and China, have cancelled their holidays in the Maldives, while Australia advised its citizens to “exercise caution and monitor developments” when travelling there.

“We attract around 600,000 tourists every year. The cancellations are not as severe as we expected,” Shougee said.

Tourism is a key driver of the Maldives economy and has helped make the 1,192 coral islands one of the richest nations in South Asia with a per-capita income of $2,674.—AFP