Service at sea recalls victims of patrol boat explosion

The 20th anniversary of the huge explosion on board Armed Forces of Malta patrol boat C-23 off Gozo, which killed seven uniformed army and police personnel was marked on Tuesday with Mass and a wreath laying ceremony at sea where the tragedy occurred.

The explosion on September 7, 1984 occurred when the soldiers were on detail dumping into the sea illegally manufactured fireworks which had been seized.

It was a routine operation which followed the police's find and seizure of the fireworks in the limits of Zabbar a day earlier.

Bombardier Joseph Pace, 36 of Sta Venera, Gunner William Simpson, 36 of Lija, Private Anthony Vella, 20 of Ghajnsielem, Police Sergeant Saviour Muscat, 30 of Birkirkara, and Police Constable Joseph Hare, 24 of Sliema, perished in the violent explosion some two miles off Qala Point in Gozo, together with 36-year-old Bombardier Francis Borg of Hamrun and 27-year-old Private Anthony Farrugia of Zejtun, whose remains were never found.

Only Private Emmanuel Montesin, 21 of Paola, survived the explosion.

A spokesman for the AFM said yesterday that in the years that followed the tragedy the procedure to dump fireworks had been changed to make the operation safer.

At the time of the explosion, the fireworks used to be loaded in the bow of the patrol craft, a practice which was stopped as a result of the lesson learned. Instead of in the craft's bow, the explosives are now loaded on a barge and towed out to sea for disposal.

On Tuesday, relatives and friends of the deceased soldiers and policemen gathered at Maritime Squadron's Haywharf Base in Floriana for a service in memory of the seven dead.

AFM Commander Carmel Vassallo and Police Commissioner John Rizzo attended the Mass celebrated by the AFM Chaplain, Fr Lawrence Zammit. The sole survivor was also present.

Wreaths were later laid at the foot of the monument erected at Haywharf in memory of the seven.

Afterwards, the same Swift-class patrol boat (now re-designated 'P-23') and the Vittoria-class Search and Rescue (SAR) launch 'Melita 1' conveyed the relatives to the spot of the blast.  

Flowers and wreaths were cast into the sea during a short service on board.

Following the tragedy, a national day of mourning had been declared by the government on September 8.  

Thousands of people had gathered to pay their last respects at the victims' funeral.

The Swift-class patrol boat 'C-23' had been donated in the early 1970s by the United States government and was one of the first craft to see the founding of the then Malta Land Force's Maritime Battery at Senglea. After the incident, the extensively damaged patrol boat was towed for repairs at the Malta Drydocks Manoel Island Shipyard. It later re-entered the service.  

With its new redesignation of 'P-23', it today still serves at 2nd Regiment's Maritime Squadron, conducting inshore patrols, SAR missions, and maritime law and safety enforcement duties.