Saturday’s strong winds kept AFM crews busy

Yesterday's strong winds which caught many by surprise kept members of the Armed Forces of Malta busy as they carried out four search and rescue operations in less than six hours.

The first call came in at 11:42am when the Rescue Coordination Centre receiving a phone call reporting a canoeist just off St Elmo point hanging onto a capsized canoe. The Maritime Squadron deployed the SAR Boat Melita 1 and saved the canoeist who was conveyed to Manoel Island on his request.

The second emergency call directed to the AFM Operations Centre came in at 5:31pm were
three foreign females were reported to be in difficulty just-off Sliema front whilst swimming. Due to the rough seas and currents they could not make it to shore. Eventually, one of them succeeded to get ashore but the other two remained in the water.  

Patrol vessel P24 from Maritime Squadron was deployed, and the two females were safely recovered from the sea by an AFM dinghy deployed from the same patrol vessel and the two females were returned to Maritime Squadron base.

After 5pm as well, a separate AFM crew was busy searching for two French tourists who found themselves in difficulty at Xwejni Bay in Gozo and drowned. An AFM Alouette III helicopter was scrambled to the area where the crew on board the helicopter spotted two bodies floating in the rough sea.

AFM rescuers immediately commenced the operation to recover the persons, and a foreign male was winched up aboard. It was immediately confirmed that the person had died. Once the recovery of this person was completed, all attempts were made to recover the second person that appeared to be lifeless, but due to the adverse weather conditions, and high seas the AFM crew lost sight of the swimmer.

The second body belongs to a 17-year-old French girl.

A thorough search by helicopter continued for the second person until it was called off at last light. The search resumed this morning, with the deployment of an AFM helicopter, Patrol Craft and AFM divers.

As the Xwejni operation unfolded, the AFM Operations centre were involved in another case this time involving a capsized yacht close to Tigne. The people on board a sailing yacht were reported to be in the sea and in distress as the AFM dispatched a patrol vessel to assist and after initial assessment the people were reported to be in good state of health.

These were initially assisted by AFM soldiers and eventually did not require further assistance, as they managed to recover their sailing yacht.