Police in the Maldives said they were seeking help from the United States and Australia in the investigation into a blast on Monday on President Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s speedboat as he returned home after performing hajj in Saudi Arabia.

A minister from Maldives said investigations into Monday’s blast on President Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s speedboat will soon be taken over by multinational experts.

Cabinet Minister Mohamed Shareef said in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo that a team of Saudi Arabian investigators and an expert from the United States are already in the Maldives, while more forensic experts from the Western Australian police as well as from India and Sri Lanka would join the team Tuesday.

“The investigation has now taken a more international feel to it … because we want to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible,” Shareef said.

He said officials at present are looking at mechanical failure as a possible cause for the blast but the possibility of an attempt on Gayoom’s life has not been discarded.