Plan your trip well, MMA tells mariners

The Malta Maritime Authority is advising mariners to use conventional paper charts and plan their trip well before heading out to sea, "even in an age when most navigation is carried out with the use of electronic charts".

The authority was giving comments to The Times following an incident on Saturday night in which a 20-foot cabin cruiser ran aground on the reef known as is-Sikka is-Safra, near Bahar ic-Caghaq.

Two people had to be rescued by the Armed Forces.

Last month the AFM also rescued a 28-foot motor yacht which had run aground on Ghallis Rocks, limits of Bahar ic-Caghaq.

The spokesman said numerous seacraft plied the route from Marsamxett to Comino day and night, and until now it had been incident free.

This showed that the particular spot was very well known to those mariners who followed the basic safety rule of planning their route and keeping clear of rocks.

He said the authority was committed to ensuring safety at sea, but for obvious and practical reasons, this did not mean that it had to install navigational aids or lights on all points outside the numerous bays around the island's coastline.

Over the past few years, the authority had installed navigational aids, such as cardinal buoys, on underwater dangerous rocks in places such as Munxar, Merkanti and Mellieha.

Another one was to be installed at Xlendi pending the approval of an application to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

The authority hoped that such an incident as that of last Saturday would be considered by mariners as an eye-opener and as a reminder that the issue of safety at sea was not to be taken lightly.