Afcons Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. has denied that one of the barges involved in the construction of the Thilamalé Bridge had run aground the reef.

'Save the Beach', an organization working for the protection of the environment had tweeted last night that the barge had run aground around 23:00. "There’s a big barge stranded on the north-west side of Villimale’." the tweet read.

Project Manager, Mohamed Jinan revealed to One Online that the barge did not run aground, though it was rather close to the reef. Jinan further added that even though the barge did not run aground, a team of divers is active and assessing the reef as it did go rather close to the reef.

Director General at Environment Protection Agency (EPA), Ibrahim Naeem revealed to One Online that they had received similar reports last night and that they are currently looking into the matter.

A self-raising platform used for the project also ran aground the reef last August, causing extensive damages to the reef. Afcons was able to remove it two weeks later, though by the time EPA had fined them MVR 69 million - which the company has appealed with the Environment Ministry.