Birżebbuġia man rescued by AFM at Wied ix-Xaqqa

The man, identified as Paul Busuttil, was described by the AFM as an “amateur photographer”, and was observed at around 2.51 pm in difficulty at sea by a passer-by, who reported the incident to the Birżebbuġia Police.

The AFM’s Operations Centre at Luqa Barracks mobilised air and sea assets within three minutes.

As the AFM Maritime Squadron’s rescue launch “Melita-2” was on its way at speed against the strong waves towards Busuttil, an “Alouette” rescue helicopter was soon over the man’s location.

Two AFM rescue swimmers and a life-raft were launched to sea, secured the man and transferred him to a rescue launch..

According to the AFM, the man weighed around 180 kilos. Together with this factor and the inclement weather the Air Wing rescue swimmers and the rescue-launch’s crew had to operate under, it was decided to tow the rescuers and the casualty to safety on the deployed life raft instead.

The life raft was towed to the Malta Freeport at 4.41 pm, where an ambulance was waiting to take the rescued man to Mater Dei Hospital, the AFM said.