18 divers rescued from rough seas in Ċirkewwa, one dies at hospital

Updated at 5:42pm with details on dead diver

A massive rescue operation off Ċirkewwa pulled 18 divers out of the rough seas on Tuesday afternoon but a Dutch male diver died in hospital, the police said.

A massive search operation was underway to recover the divers who found themselves in difficulty off Ċirkewwa (Photo: James Bianchi/MaltaToday)

The Armed Forces of Malta and the Civil Protection Department were called out to sea at around 12:30pm after two groups of divers found themselves in difficulty. Strong winds and rough seas were battering the area at the time.

A police statement said four divers managed to make it to shore on their own, while the rest had to be rescued by the army and the civil protection.

Four male divers were hospitalised with one of them being certified dead sometime after. A police statement said the diver who passed away was identified as a 45-year-old from The Netherlands. The medical condition of the other three divers is not yet known.

Magistrate Gabriella Vella is holding an inquiry and police investigations into the incident are ongoing.

In a brief statement the AFM said all 18 divers were accounted for in a search and rescue operation that lasted almost three hours.

It is not known whether the rescued divers were already in the water or still on the boat when the call for help reached the police.

The AFM said the divers were out on the Rożi dive wreck site, which is situated just off the Ċirkewwa coast.

The Gozo Channel ferry operations were suspended for some time while the search was ongoing.