Fisherman rescued after boat capsizes

An AFM launch on Saturday rescued a man after his small boat capsized and sank off Sliema.

The alarm was raised at about 9.30 p.m. by the Sliema police station, which informed the operations centre that a boat had capsized off Ghar id-Dud and there were people in the water.

A patrol boat and a search and rescue boat were immediately deployed from Haywharf in Pietà and a rescue helicopter was put on stand-by, the AFM said.

The man, a Maltese amateur fisherman, was located by searchlights and plucked from the choppy sea by the rescue boat Melita 1 within a short time. He immediately confirmed that he had been alone and needed no medical assistance.

His kajjik broke up and sank.